


Where I Belong

by dofensphinx



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Alien Racism, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Background Character Death, Child Abuse, Daddy Issues, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Everyone Has Issues, F/F, F/M, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Misogyny, Multi, Past Abuse, Polyamory, Strong Female Characters, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-05-29 00:54:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6352441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dofensphinx/pseuds/dofensphinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Piccolo got out of jail, he wanted to be as far away form his family as possible. He wasn't really expecting to get involved with an heiress that just wants to fight, a mad scientist in high heels and the Prince of a destroyed world. Not to mention a super solider gone terribly wrong.  But everyone, even he has something to prove to the world and maybe together they'll find where they belong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Junior shrugged his shoulders, attempting to get the ill-fitting suit to fit just a little bit better. But nothing was about to make the shoulders stop looking like they were about to burst or the bottoms of the pants reach his ankles. It might not be perfect but it would have to pass for his interview. A thrift store suit was about all that he could afford right now unless he wanted to get into it with his family. He had gone two years without doing that, as much as he could while he was locked up and he was going to keep up that trend for as long as he could.

Desperate not to think about his family or his recent release, he looked around the room that he was stuck in. Compared to his father’s house the richness was nothing knew, but it was decorated less in a ridiculous parody of human royalty (never Namekian) and more in a modern style. 

The Ox King preferred darker woods and leathers, making the choices towards a masculine style. And everything was huge, big enough that it was dwarfing a man of his size. Not something that often happened when you towered over seven feet tall. The chair he was sitting in, it’s back rose at least a few inches above his head a swirling pattern of ox’s and other symbols. 

Out of desire to keep himself from losing it, he started to look around. The desk in front of him with massive, made out of something wood that might have been mahogany. Just like every other piece of wood in the room there was that same pattern of oxes and other things that he couldn’t identify all swirled together. The chair behind it was a large soft looking leather chair, and he could only imagine the man that would sit in it. 

Junior pulled at his collar, it was almost choking him at this point. If it was the nerves or the fact his shirt was too small, he couldn’t have said but he really wished that the Ox King would hurry up and get in here. Either he was good enough to interview or he wasn’t, if he wasn’t good enough to interview then he shouldn’t have been called in the first place. Thinking like that was starting to give him a headache too, clearly he was just thinking too damn much lately. That’s the reason he wanted this job, it was supposed to be stressful but stressful meant he didn’t have to think about himself.

And it wasn’t gardening. Fuck he hated gardening, but that was all his family wanted him to do. Or all family but his father wanted him to do. His father wanted to do what had gotten him sent to prison in the first place. This job wouldn’t have met either of those criteria, if anyone found out what he was interviewing for he would have gotten shit from both sides. It was bad enough that he was choosing to live away from home, bad enough that he had gone to prison in the first place, but now he was taking on a job that just made Namekians look worse? Guru would have had a field day he if knew. 

Fuck Guru. Kami wouldn’t be totally happy, but Kami would give him some bullshit about working on his own path. Just because their spiritual leader was non-judgemental didn’t mean the rest of them were. He couldn’t stand the compound either way, he needed to be alone.  
And away from one person in particular. But he wasn’t thinking about home right now because home was that shitty little apartment that he had rented with what savings he had left. 

Finally behind the chair the bright red curtain that he had assumed covered a window moved, revealing a large man who seemed to be some kind of combination of a Viking and a lumberjack, with his large horned helmet and suspenders. Though his beard was short and well-trimmed, Junior got the feeling that this was a man who knew his way around a fight. The Ox King had earned his name, the man was the size of an ox. 

Junior jumped to his feet, pulling his shirt down as he did, “Sir”, even if he was a former criminal he did know how to treat someone with respect, when they deserved his respect.

“Piccolo Daimao Jr I assume?” the king’s voice fit his body, a large booming almost growl. He seemed to be angry as he came around the desk, looking up and down Junior.

“It’s just Junior, Sir. I’d rather not be associated with my father if you wouldn’t mind”, he clasped his hands behind his back to resist the urge to fiddle with his clothes any longer.

The Ox King laughed, his belly shaking with the force of his breath. He clapped his hand on Junior’s shoulder with enough force that Junior almost fell over, “Junior it is my boy! Sit, sit”, he waved his hands at the chair Junior had previously be sitting in before moving around his desk again. Ox took his own seat, with a slight oof as he manoeuvred his bulk. 

It took a few moments before Junior allowed the breath he hadn’t known he was holding to be released. He took his own seat, holding in his hands in a lap still trying not to fiddle. He was starting to think that he had no idea who he was dealing with. He had been expecting a hard man like his father, instead he was sitting in front of a man who laughed and despite his size seemed…friendly. 

“I understand that you’ve only recently been released? Two years for assault?” Ox flipped through a few papers on his desk, “And an incredible amount of arrests before that”

“I assure you I have been rehabilited, I’m not a criminal any longer—“

“I want you because you are a criminal”, Ox sighed, leaning back in his chair, crossing his fingers over his belly, “I know that’s not something that you would expect to hear from a prospective employer, but that’s the truth of it”

Junior raised his eye ridge, wiggling his nose a little bit, he was finding it rather hard to believe that anyone would want him for his past for anything but illegal activities. Which he wasn’t about to even consider doing, he would be going home and willing to fucking pick flowers before he went back to prison. 

“My daughter is…a difficult woman to handle. She’s…trying to prove herself to the world and apparently part of that means running off her bodyguards. I don’t believe she’s been able to keep one for more than a few weeks since she turned eighteen. I’ve hired everyone I could think of, army, fighters, so many different sorts of aliens, I’ve come to the conclusion that there might be no one who can handle her”

There was no way that there was a twenty one year old girl who could run off her handlers like that, the Ox King must not have been hiring as good of people as he thought he was, “Is there that much of a threat to her? I apologize sir I do know you’re rather wealthy but I don’t think I’ve heard anything about enemies of yours”, it seemed most people were too scared to go against the Ox King. If he was your friend, he would do anything for you. If he was your enemy, you would die.

Ox twirled one of the buttons on his shirt, considering what he would say before he replied, “Chichi is the problem. Not my enemies. That…might be the issue, she’s…my daughter and I have tried to raise her well but I’m not sure that what I attempted to do got through to her. I love Chichi but she is…a difficult woman. I understand you haven’t seen any of the papers, but if you did you might understand a little bit more”

“Are you attempting to convince me not to take the job sir?”, he was getting mixed signals here, was he supposed to want the job or was he supposed to be terrified and leave, “If you don’t want me I can leave”

“I just want you to know what you’re getting into Junior. You’ll be paid well of course, but if you don’t want to take the job or if you want to quit….I’ll allow it”, Ox pressed his lips together as his hand up came up to his beard, tugging on the short hairs, “It this point I am at the end of my rope. I just want Her to be safe and if I have to pay or if I have to give you all the days off you want, I will do anything”

Ox picked up pile of papers off his desk, “This is the contract. It’s only for a month, so if after that month you decide you want to leave, or you want to be paid more….anything, we can renogationate. I just ask you try for the month before you make your final decision”, he slid the stack towards Junior, “Read over it before you sign…”, as he was speaking the phone rang, a shrill noise that cut through the office. 

Ox sighed, grabbing the phone, “Yes…I…yes I’ll come see what’s going on”, he pressed a finger to his temple, squinting as he did so He hung up his phone, pushing away from the desk, “I apologize, take your time. There’s…an issue in the house and I need to see to it. If I can’t get away my assistant will come for you”

Junior nodded, already being to look over the contract, most of it was pretty standard stuff. If he got hurt he couldn’t sue but they would pay for his medical costs, he got a lot more than he would have thought in salary, and if he needed it he could stay at the mansion. Flipping through he was starting to think it was more perks than anything else, he was allowed to use the car for his own person use, a clothing budget… vacation time. All for looking after one kid who was a little bit rowdy sometimes. It was almost too good to be true, but if it was he would be out in a month. Just a month, that’s all he had to do.

He picked up a pen from the table, black and gold, probably more expensive than the suit he was wearing and signed his name. Piccolo Daimao Junior, in thick black strokes. He hated to write his own name, but legally that was what he was called. Even if his father didn’t really care all that much about legal.

It felt like a knot had been released from his stomach, all of the nerves that he had been holding in over the idea that he wouldn’t get this job. That he would have to go back home and face his father to say I failed again. Even if he didn’t verbalize the words that’s how his father would read it, that his son couldn’t hack it without him so he had to come running back to daddy. 

Whatever this girl was like there was no way that she could be any worse then his family. No matter what the Ox king thought, he might think his daughter was difficult case, but he hadn’t meant Demon King Piccolo when he was at his worst. 

He had to be lead out by an assistant, who explained that the situation had become worse than what the Ox King had originally thought and had to be dealt with. But he would be very pleased to see that Junior had agreed to the job and would inform him with a start date soon. Though the clothing budget would go in effect immediately. The assistant pulled a black card from their pocket, holding it between their fingers because Junior grabbed it. 

“You can use that to buy yourself new clothes before your start date, suits will do. If Miss Chichi thinks you need anything else, she’ll let you know. She’s very vocal about her needs…” the assistant's nose wiggled, disgusted with something that Chichi had done.

“Was Chichi the problem?” that was the only thing that he could assume, he hadn’t been informed that there was anyone else living in the house.

the assistant shook their head, crossing their arms over their chest, “It was the z-fighters, some sort of issue there. I try not to get too involved in that side of the King’s business, I’m not a fighter. But what I heard was that a wall of a neighbouring business was destroyed…and the police were called…”

Junior shrugged his shoulders, but on the inside his mind was racing. He was aware of the z-fighters, everyone was. If only because he was aware of Son Goku, the man his father hated more than anything else. He hadn’t been aware that Ox was involved with them though, and maybe it was pretty he didn’t. He would rather stay in the dark. Take care of the kid, don’t worry about what the dad does.

*

“What do you want Nail?” He had barely gotten in the door of his apartment, still a little bit dazed from the interview when his phone rang. And he knew who it was because there were two people who knew his number and he had just left one of their houses.

“I wanted to make sure my favourite cousin isn’t dead. I know you got out, and I know you know I know so I want to know why you didn’t call me?” he could hear the general noise and chatter of the Namekian household in the background of Nail’s call.

Piccolo wedged the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he filled a glass of water up, “My father isn’t around right? I don’t have the energy for him right now. Or you. But I don’t think that’s going to work to get rid of you as easily as I would like”

Nail snorted, and Junior could almost see him, rolling his eyes over the phone. As much as he would hate to admit it, he did miss Nail, he missed his family. Some of them less than others, but he did miss them. It was hard to go from a house full of annoying aliens to being completely alone in a shitty apartment. But he would deal with it, and he wasn’t going to tell Nail that he was lonely.

“Your father fucked off to some fight or something, Russia? I dunno I haven’t been paying attention they won’t let him fight here anymore so he has to fly around like an ass to find new people to beat the shit out of. Sooo, what are you doing?”

Junior clicked his nails against the glass as he considered, “I got a job. And an apartment. So you know I’m doing better than the 24-year-old stoner who won’t leave home”

“Look, I look after the stoners. You know I don’t touch that stuff, I’m not that religious. And what’s the job? Are you a stripper? What the hell kind of jobs do they even give felons? And not even just a human felon, you’re a Namekian Felon too. Half the people around here won’t hire us even if we haven’t assaulted a man in a bar. SO are you a stripper?”

Now he was remembering why he didn’t miss Nail, the man talked too damn much for his own good. Kami and Dende stank of weed but at least they were mellow enough not to talk for hours on end about nothing, “Thanks Nail. No I’m not a stripper, fuck you. I’m a bodyguard”

He could tell that the wheels were spinning in Nail’s head, as fast as those wheels could spin. It wasn’t that Nail was wrong, people didn’t like Namekians, and he was only proving them right when he went to jail. It seemed to be that if you were larger than them, and looked dangerous, it didn’t mean anything that 90% of Namekians couldn’t care less about violence and just wanted to be left alone. If you were a Namekian, you were a violent asshole and clearly unhireable from the start. 

“This isn’t anything weird or illegal right? I mean it’s a legit job? Dende would be upset if you went to jail again because you know he couldn’t handle going to visit you. He said it literally hurt and you were only in min security”

“Thanks for the guilt trip Nail”, he did feel bad about Dende, but he also had the same issue, if on a smaller scale. Being a telepathic race and being around so many people broadcasting how angry or sad they were in such a small space did a number on his brain. For Dende, someone in training to be a religious leader whose mind was that much more open, he couldn’t have imagined the pain. 

“It’s not illegal”, he said finally, though he wasn’t totally sure of that, “And my boss has promised that any legal trouble I get into he’ll supply a lawyer. It’s just looking after some rich girl while she drinks. You know make sure she doesn’t lose her shirt or anything”

The water was terrible, the first thing he was going to have to do once he got paid was get a filter, and he couldn’t survive on this shit. And bottled water was bullshit, “It’s a job Nail. A job off the Compound”

Nail made a noise in his throat, not totally convinced of Junior’s sincerity, “Would you even tell me if you were in trouble? I mean who got arrested with you that time when we were sixteen and you hotwired that car?”

“Nail. I love you. But I. Am. Fine.”, he stressed out each word, hoping that it would get through Nail’s thick skull that he really was alright. There was nothing wrong with him or this job, it was just him trying to get his own life under his own control for the first time in what felt like his life. He was trying to prove that he wasn’t just a fucking clone of his father. 

That was something every Namekian born of one parent dealt with, if you technically only had their DNA were you just a smaller version of them? It was that much worse for him, when his father had created him for that reason only. His father wanted someone to take on his legacy, to be the next Demon King. And he had assumed that he would just get a perfect clone of himself. That was the first disappoint of Junior’s life, the first time he hadn’t lived up to his father’s ridiculous expectations of him. 

Sure he would be a violent ass, he would beat up people, he would be Ma Junior, but every chance he was fucking up his father’s idea of him. Junior wore punk clothes and enough leather to make a cow jealous, covered himself in fake tattoos and piercings all to upset his father. When all that he had to do was smoke a little bit a weed and live like his Uncle. But that wouldn’t have been him any more than the punk style really was. 

Junior wasn’t totally sure who he was, and that have been why he was here, taking a job to protect a woman he didn’t know or care about, just because he knew that his father would have ever considered it.

“…but are you happy Junior?” Nail asked, his nails clicking against the phone, “I know you’re fine, you’re always fine. You went to jail you were fine, you almost killed a man you were fine, you ended up in a coma you were fine. Your father---“

“Nail. Please”, he didn’t want to talk about his dad anymore just confirming that the man wasn’t anywhere near Nail was enough, “It’s been a long day. I…I’ll call you later”

“Is that a promise or are you just saying that to get me off the phone?”

“No this is to just get you off the phone. I’m happy”, or as happy as I can be, he thought. It was hard to think about being happy when he just wanted to be…fine. As Nail said, he was always fine. That’s always how he was, there was never anything wrong with Junior.

Nail sighed, “…we both know that I can tell that’s not true”

He did know that for sure, he and Nail might as well have been as close and Kami and Demon King Piccolo. Even as far apart as they were, Junior could feel Nail’s excitement, and his nervousness. And he knew that Nail could feel all of the inner turmoil that he was going through.  
“Can we pretend that it is for the moment? It’s too early in all of this to assume that this is going to go to shit”

“Does that mean I always have to pretend that when we hang up you’re going to say I love you back instead of grunting like a dick?” 

“I love you Nail. Goodbye”, thankfully he hadn’t picked up one those stupid ass smartphones because he couldn’t make the screens work with his nail and then he wouldn’t have been able to snap his phone shut on Nail.

Just barely inside his head he heard the echo of Nail’s voice in his head, ‘I love you too dumbass’. It might have been a memory or wishfully thinking, but he knew that it was Nail, speaking to him from back home. The words squeezed around his heart, making him wonder for a moment if he was doing the right thing. Maybe he should go back to the compound and just be like every other Namekian.

this whole thing was making his head hurt. Again. He was beginning to wonder if whatever was in the water might be the actual cause of his headaches and not all of his over thinking. He was going to have to ask Nail if Dende or Kami could send him some herbs from home. Human medications did nothing for him but make him sick. That or they worked too well and he wasn’t in the mood for getting high as a kite just to get rid of a headache.

Or maybe he could start growing his own encase he ran out. The idea that there might be Namekian pharmacy anywhere near him was laughable. Even if there was half of the population was terrified of him just because of who is father was. Even at home, there was always those that viewed him with fear like they thought that he would attack someone with no warning. It hurt a little bit to be viewed as a monster even but his own people. They were supposed to be a community, not divided against the humans.

When your own people looked at you like you were a monster, and the human community looked at you like you were a monster, who the hell were you suppose to turn to? You just ended up feeling alone, because everyone already had their pre-convinced ideas of who you were and what you would do.  
Go to bed, he told himself, drinking the rest of the water if only because he needed it. No matter how disgusting it tasted. Filter. He reminded himself, he was really going to have to buy the fucking Filter.

Filter. Clothes…, all projects that could be dealt with tomorrow when his mind wasn’t completely on his family. He should have been thinking about his new job, the one that had made him feel so much relief before. That’s what his family did to him, made what previously made sense get all turned upside down until he didn’t know what was going on anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Chi-Chi thought of herself as a fairly easy going person, unless pushed a little bit too far, but there were a few things that just ticked her off: being woken up, being talked to before she got her coffee, or getting ordered around. Thankfully most of the people in her father’s employ seemed to under that after a few times of getting cursed out.

So when she heard someone opening her door she just assumed she was still dreaming. Chi-Chi rolled over, pressing her face into Bulma’s shoulder. Despite the fact they were officially broken up, it still seemed like almost every night they ended up in bed together. Not that she was complaining, Bulma was warm and her bed was way too fucking big for just one person. Chi-Chi groaned, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep as Bulma rolled towards her so that now her face was in Bulma’s chest. If she didn’t know Bulma slept like the dead she would have assumed her friend did that one purpose. But judging by the snores coming out of her, Bulma was completely out of it and probably wouldn’t wake up even for an earthquake.

“Miss Chi-Chi?” She groaned pressing her face farther into Bulma’s chest. Whoever it was, they were outside of her bedroom in the living room so there was a door between them. She didn’t have an appointment this morning so why the hell would someone be coming to talk to her, “Miss Chi-Chi?” the voice was a little more forceful now, accompanied by a harsh knock on the door.

“Fuck off!” She shoved herself off of Bulma, who only rolled over with another snore. Now she was awake and now she was mad, who the hell did this asshole think they were? “Some of us are trying to fucking sleep!”

“Its noon”, the voice replied, and there was the sound of weight leaning against her door. Whoever it was, they were a big person. Some people might have been upset or concerned by the idea of some unknown person in their living area, Chi-Chi was just fucking pissed. “And I believe that most people are awake at this point. And if you’re talking I’d say you are awake.”

“Maybe I’m sleep talking,” she still hadn’t managed to get out of bed, and Bulma had rolled over again, her hands flung over her head, totally oblivious to the fight going on beside her. Chi-Chi pressed a hand to her forehead, starting to feel the effects of last night. She wasn’t sure if it was the Jägerbombs Bulma had encouraged her to drink last night or the fact that her head and some asshole’s fist had come into contact. OR both, both seemed more likely. So, another day of being hungover and concussed.

Plus the dickhole standing outside her door, this was shaping up to be one of those days that she really fucking hated.

“If you’re decent I am going to have to come in.”

It took her a moment to formulate a reply because she wasn’t sure what the hell the voice was saying. Chi-Chi looked down pleased to see that she was, in fact, wearing a shirt, even if it was the one Bulma had bought her that said To Do List: You. Hilarious Bulma. 

“If you come in here I will not be responsible for what happens,” she flopped back on the bed. If whoever it was came in, she would do whatever she felt like at the moment. She was hungover and had a concussion after all, who knew what she could do.

*

Junior’s day had started so well too. He had gotten the call three days ago that he was going to start his new job guarding Chi-Chi; armed with the black card he had gone to get some appropriate clothes. Of course, it was kind of hard to just go to any store and buy clothes that would fit him so it had taken a hell of a lot longer than he had thought. 

Apparently tailoring clothes for a seven-foot tall man with enough muscle to two people took some of time and skill. In the end, he had left with one suit and the promise that he would have two more as soon as possible. The shirts were easier, and he had three of those. He was really hoping that would be enough, he wasn’t sure how well blood would come out of these suits.

Or beer.

The idea that his day didn’t have to start until noon was kind of nice too, even if he did get up at six am for his exercises because his body didn’t allow him to sleep in. Junior had just kind of assumed that his charge would be awake, but apparently that was too much to ask. Another thing that was too much to ask was for her to be polite.

At least, her room was nice, or…rooms. From what he had been told, Chi-Chi had a whole wing to herself in the mansion. The one he was in right now was a large living room, with a black leather sectional square in the middle facing an entertainment system. He could see just off of this room there was a kitchen, not a huge one but enough for one person. Honestly based on what he had been told he was impressed that her room wasn’t a huge mess. Hell, maybe she kept it all contained to her bedroom where it could be hidden instead of spreading it around.

When she didn’t reply to his comment about being dressed, he pushed open the door. He took a moment to actually see the room, which was mainly a bed that was much too big for anyone and what seemed to be two heads before a shoe came flying from the bed. The force of the throw caused the heel of the shoe to embed in the wood of doorframe. He stared at the shoe for a moment, if that had hit him he would be pulling a shoe out of his shoulder right now.

“I was aiming for your head,” the dark haired girl on the bed admitted, crossing her arms over her chest, “But I wasn’t expecting you to be so tall.”

“Chi-Chi, I assume?” He gripped the shoe by the toe, taking note that it was bright red and the heel looked like could kill someone, and yanked it out of the wall. He was surprised by the weight of it, not that he normally held high heels.

She shrugged, leaning her head against the headboard and closing her eyes, “That depends on who you are. I don’t normally find Namekians hanging around the house like this”

“So you are Chi-Chi then?” he pointed the shoe at her, attempting to catch her into just confirming that she was Chi-Chi.

“I already said that depends on who you are, or do you not have a name? I can throw a few more things and see if that’ll jog your memory,” she was already leaning over the bed to grab another shoe as she spoke.

He grunted, realizing that he was going to get nowhere with this woman if he didn’t do what she said, “I’m Junior. Your new bodyguard.”

At that statement, Chi-Chi looked up from her digging around for a projectile with narrowed eyes. Even if he was terrible at reading human faces, he could feel the fury radiating from her. Her hand grasped a black boot from the floor and flung it at him, this one hitting him square in the forehead, “I am going to kill him!”

This was definitely not what he had been expecting. He had read up on Chi-Chi but he knew that most of those papers exaggerated everything so he took them with a grain of salt. And when he saw her, a petite girl in a pastel colored nightdress, he honestly wasn’t expecting this. But now his face hurt and he was starting to get what the Ox King had meant about his daughter being a difficult woman to handle.

Chi-Chi pulled herself out of bed, not caring that she wasn’t wearing pants. She stomped past Junior, almost shoving him out of the way on her way out of the bedroom. Coffee was needed, coffee was most definitely needed and then she would talk to her father about respecting her fucking boundaries. Not that it had worked any other time that she had done that. She was stubborn, though, as an ox if you would excuse the pun, and she wasn’t about to give up just because her father thought he knew her better than she knew herself.

“I don’t suppose you drink coffee, Junior?” She asked, her back to him as she began to grind the coffee beans, “I’m afraid that Namekians weren’t covered in my classes, so I don’t know that much about you.”

He was very confused by her change of attitude until he heard just how hard she was grinding the coffee. All of her anger was going out into the beans instead of towards him.

“No…Just water,” he leaned against the frame of the kitchen door, watching her work. Now she that she was standing up, he could see that despite her small height there was muscle packed into that frame. Her thighs and calves were thick, and as she hand ground the coffee he could see the muscles in her biceps bulge. Remembering what the Ox king had said, he was starting to get it. She was his daughter in her body at least.

“Your father didn’t tell you that I was going to be working for you?” he was beginning to think that the Ox King’s relationship with his daughter was a little bit strained, maybe because she was so violent and whatever the issue that was causing her violence.

She poured the ground beans into her coffee machine before adding the water as well. She punched a couple of buttons, with more force that was probably needed, “Of course not. The last time he told me about my bodyguard before they showed up Bulma had their whole background run and we could have told you when the last time they wiped their nose was”, Chi-Chi leaned her head against the cabinets in front of her. “Do you want water then?”

Junior raised his eyebrow, “Is there a reason that your personality has gone from murderous to…” he didn’t want to say nice, so he choose another word, “Pleasant? You did throw two shoes at me only a few minutes ago.”

Chi-Chi waved her hand at him, pulling her coffee cup out when the machine beeped at her, “you didn’t run away when I threw something at you. So you’ve done better than most of the idiots that come in here. And you aren’t bleeding. I like that.” She took a sip from her coffee, “water or not?”

“Fine,” there was no reason that he shouldn’t take some water from her, maybe it would taste better than the shit form his apartment. It seemed like she was attempting to be more pleasant towards him, even if it was for vaguely disturbing reasons. He supposed that everyone had their tests, and her tests involved a lot of violence. He was starting to get the feeling that he was going to have to worry about getting hit in the face with more things if he was going to hang around with Chi-Chi.

She shoved the glass at him before stumbling out of the kitchen towards the living room. “Note to Junior, when Chi-Chi is hung over, Chi-Chi does not fucking want to be woken up,” she flopped herself onto the sectional pulling her feet underneath her.

“It’s Wednesday. You were drinking on a Tuesday night?” The water was good, clearly where ever they got their water was a hell of a lot better than where his apartment got it.

Chi-Chi glared at him though it looked more like she was squinting at something too bright, “It…there was a reason. I have my reasons.” Even if her reasons were she wanted to punch someone in the face she did have a reason. She wasn’t going to spill her life story to her brand new bodyguard who she wasn’t even sure was going to stay, “You look like a fucking prick,” she told him.

Junior looked down at his clothes, a gray suit and purple shirt, all picked out by the tailor rather than himself. He wasn’t sure what was wrong with his clothes, but that wasn’t the most or least sensible thing she had said since he started his shift. He was willing to chalk that up to the fact she was hung over and half awake.

“You dress like you’re going to the fucking meeting or something, you’d stick out at the club,” Chi-Chi could feel a headache slowly starting to ebb, so she was really hoping that the coffee was working and she wasn’t as concussed as she thought she was. Admittedly her words weren’t working the best right now, so Junior probably thought she was an idiot. “When Bulma wakes up we can deal with that.”

He leaned against the couch though it was low enough that he was still rather bent over, “you keep mentioning that name, is that your friend…?” he coughed before he pointed to the bedroom door. According to what he read she was dating Son Goku, not some blue haired girl but who knew. He wasn’t going to assume because he felt if he did she would just hit him again.

“Yes,” she took another deep sip of her coffee, draining the whole cup, “She lives here…Kind of,” and Bulma was complicated. Bulma wouldn’t have called herself complicated but that’s what she was. In general not so much, but the deeper you went into it, the weirder she got.

She was an heiress to the Briefs Fortune but she would have preferred to figure out how to take apart her competitors work and remake it to be better, then go to a party. Though she loved a good party too. Bulma was the girl who could and would fix your car while wearing six-inch heels and a miniskirt. She loved men, and men loved her, but her only serious relationship had been with Chi-Chi. And after they broke up, she wasn’t about to leave.

“She’s my ex. And my best friend,” there was a lot more to Bulma then just being her ex and her best friend but that was again a lot of bullshit that she wasn’t going to get into with him right now. Again they barely knew each other and she didn’t know if he was going to sell information to the papers or something on her. “She drinks and then I bring her home and she kind of passes out. You’ll learn. If you stick around.”

Junior shrugged, he had decided that he wasn’t going to question anything that she did right now as long as things weren’t flying, “What are we doing today then, besides....” he didn’t want to think about his clothes but that was on the agenda, “my clothes?”

Chichi set her cup on the table with a click, “I’m going to work out until she wakes up. Should be in an hour or two. Maybe.”

*

While she was getting dressed, Chichi considered her bodyguard. He was large, that was the first thing that came to mind whenever she saw him. Her father tended to hire bigger men because they could step right in front of her. But he was a Namekian, which was new. There weren’t a huge number of them on Earth, and even fewer in her city. She wasn’t sure that she had ever actually seen one not on TV before. Maybe when Goku had fought the Demon King? But that had been a few years ago now and she couldn’t compare her bodyguard, who had let her hit him in the face with a boot, to the Demon King. Junior was…softer somehow in the face then Piccolo was, not that she would have been afraid of him anyways that she didn’t feel any fear when she looked at him.

She…might have liked him, but she wasn’t going to assume that she did without seeing him in action. Bulma would love him; he was hunky and that’s all she really cared about. To her, Chi-Chi should have been happy that there was always a hot man around nearly constantly. She got why and it wasn’t like she found Junior unattractive, it was just that…

There was a lot more that she had going on, a lot more that didn’t involve boys that might not even like her for her. She didn’t just want a one night stand, she wanted a relationship that would last. And also, a guy that didn’t just want her money or her dad’s connections. Right now that was looking a hell of a lot like a fevered dream, so she would just…be content with Bulma. One friend was good.

Before she pulled her sports bra on she poked Bulma again, to see if the woman would even stir. The only answer she got was a long drawn-out snore that told her what she needed to know. Bulma knew her routine, and she could find her own coffee. Probably.

*

Junior felt his face flush bright purple as soon as Chi-Chi left the room, he had been able to keep his embarrassment down until she was out of his sight but now….Oh god, he was only starting to realize that she had been walking around without any pants on. In front of him. And her breasts had been jiggling underneath that loose shirt. Fuck, fuck, he wasn’t used to women. Especially not human women and their nice legs and perky breasts and lovely muscles…

He smacked his head against the wall, sure that she could hear the noise from inside her room but he couldn’t help it. He was attempting to knock the terrible thoughts out of his head. There was no way that he could think about that sort of stuff. He couldn’t protect her if he was thinking about what her tits looked like without a bra. And honestly her personality was just confusing the fuck out of him, she was abrasive and violent but bothered to ask if he wanted coffee or water.

“Are you hitting your head against the wall?” Chi-Chi put her hands on her hips as she stared at him. She was starting to think that her bodyguard was vaguely insane. Which might make him slightly more likely to last than some of the other assholes?

Junior looked at her, seeing that she had changed her clothes from the nightdress to a purple sports bra and shorts. It was only slightly better in that he knew she was wearing pants, but now he could see a stomach of rock solid abs.

“…Yes,” he said, figuring the best way to deal with this was just to answer her question honestly. “Yes, I am. Because you are driving me insane. Can we get going now? I didn’t think it would take that long to get dressed?” If she was going to be a cranky nut to him, then he was going to be, as Nail put it, ‘his grumpy ass self.’ It would work better for both of them.

“I was making sure Bulma didn’t die of alcohol poisoning,” she strutted passed him, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she looked at him, “Aae you coming or are you just going to stand here like an ass? I thought you were supposed to be protecting me?”

Junior grunted, knocking his head against the wall again before he followed her. A month. He only had to last a goddamn month, and then by that time maybe he would start to understand her a little bit better. That or the money would convince him to stay even though she was ridiculous.

*

Bulma was used to waking up alone, but doing it in Chi-Chi’s bed was so much less depressing. She knew that Chi-Chi was off doing some sort of crazy martial arts thing she didn’t really care about and hadn’t left. Not completely. Chi-Chi would come back. Though it was apparently a little bit different day because there was a small pile of shoes beside the door and a hole in the wall. Generally, Chi-Chi reserved throwing for when she was mad, and Bulma didn’t think she had gone to bed that angry.

Maybe it was kind of sad that she hung on to Chi-Chi because of that but it was nice to know that someone was going to come back to her, she loved her parents but as much as they supported her in the sciences, they weren’t what she wanted. And they were busy, so she wouldn’t bother them with her issues.

So she latched on a little too much to Chi-Chi when a girl throws a guy through a plate glass window for you, could anyone blame a girl for falling in love? Or at least, lust. Chi-Chi was…there weren't words for Chi-Chi sometimes, and that was stupid because she knew so many words.

Bulma knew Chi-Chi clung just as close to her, and that she had her own reasons that Bulma could just barely understand. Because despite knowing her for almost two years, finding out the truth about Chi-Chi was hard sometimes. She wanted respect, she wanted people to like her, but for her. Not for what she had.

In the end, it came down to Chi-Chi would listen to her talk for hours about things that she knew Chi-Chi didn’t get because it made her happy. It wasn’t just sex, not that the sex wasn’t amazing, it was a true friendship underneath everything else.

She knew it was real because when she broke up with Chi-Chi, Chi-Chi didn’t leave. The thought never crossed her mind and she was still here, sitting on the same couch they had made out on so many times drinking Chi-Chi’s crappy coffee.

Because Chi-Chi didn’t leave.

*

The TV was on now, the smell of coffee filling the room. A blue head peeked over the back of the couch as the door opened, Bulma poking her whole head over as she saw who it was. “New bodyguard Chi-Chi? Or boyfriend? I won’t be jealous if you share!”

Junior sputtered for a moment, attempting to think of something to say in response to Bulma but he was never actually that good when it came to giving insults back to women. Thankfully Chi-Chi had it covered for him. “Bodyguard, you don’t share, I need a shower,” she walked by the couch patting Bulma on the head as she went. “Don’t harass him too badly.”

“Freeza’s talking shit on TV again”, she called after Chi-Chi before turning back to him with a smirk. As soon as the bathroom door shut she pounced, “so, what’s your name?”

Junior shuffled a little bit, crossing his arms behind his back in an attempt to look like he was calm and collected. “Junior, just…Junior,” he wasn’t really in the mood to explain why his name was what it was now, “Bulma then?”

“Bulma Briefs, of those Briefs yes. Did you ask your tailor to make your pants that well-fitting? Because those legs are fantastic…though they would look a lot better in a pair of jeans…maybe some leather,” she tilted her head to the side, appraising his look with careful eyes. “You’re not going to fit in at all when we go out; we’ll really have to fix that. I mean between the two of us Chi-Chi and I can probably buy a mall…”

Chi-Chi wasn’t kidding when she said that Bulma would be willing to get on about his clothes. “Chi-Chi told me that I looked like a prick. Not that I would know what that looks like…” he pulled at his jacket, “The tailor told me that this was a good look for me?”

Bulma shook her head, “It’s not that you look bad, it’s that you aren’t going to fit in like I said. I mean you look like a bodyguard or a business man…or a mob boss maybe. That’s kind of hot,” the look that she was giving him was really uncomfortable. In fact, Bulma was just, in general, making him uncomfortable.

“….Are you going to keep looking at me like you want to eat me?” he asked finally, wondering if maybe he should be guarding Chi-Chi in the bathroom instead of dealing with this terrifying woman.

“Maybe…we really do need to get your clothes all fixed up, though.”

*

The mall was very uncomfortable; it seemed to be a primarily human mall which meant that he was getting all of the stares. Even if it had a few aliens around, he would have still towered over most of them. The chances that he was going to find clothes here that fight him was very slight, but Chi-Chi and Bulma seemed convinced that he was definitely going to find something.

He wasn’t sure that he wanted to find any clothes here, considering what Bulma and Chi-Chi were wearing. Bulma was strutting around on high heels, the same ones that had almost come into contact with his head and a skin tight red dress. Chi-Chi was a little better in that she was wearing pants, but the way her neckline came down….

He rarely wore human clothes, so he barely knew anything about them. Especially women’s clothes. But he was pretty sure that Chi-Chi and Bulma might have been showing more skin than the average person did. Bulma seemed to know just where she was going, not paying attention to any of the other shops as they walked through the crowds of the mall.

“Where are we going?” Junior asked, leaning a little bit closer to Chi-Chi so that he could be heard above the roar of the crowd, “and how long do we have to be here?”

Chi-Chi shrugged her shoulders a little bit before answering, “I think that we’re going to someone Bulma knows, she knows more people than I do and generally she just orders our clothes. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been here. But if you don’t like this I don’t know how well you’re going to do at the club tonight.”

He groaned internally, knowing that she was right. There was no way that he could handle a club, a dark overly loud place if this bright mall was pissing him off already. It took a few more minutes of him being annoyed for them to reach where they were going; a store that was done almost in pure white and looked like it was way too expensive for him to ever be in.

It took what felt like hours, and by the time they were done he had seen more purple and leather then he had ever wanted to in his life. Bulma and Chi-Chi seemed to take pleasure in treating him like their own personal doll, putting him in outfits and then discarding them. They had decided he looked good in black and purple, but there weren't any leather pants in his size. Thank god. The way Bulma had been looking at him in the jeans was bad enough without adding leather to the mix.

The main outfit they seemed to like was simple enough that it seemed ridiculous it had taken them forever to pick it out. A purple button down, a black motorcycle jacket in soft as hell leather and a pair of black jeans. Though he could have done without what Bulma called ‘ass kicking boots.’ They looked a little bit too much like something he would have worn during his punk days.

The girls, or rather Bulma, decided he should stay in that outfit. According to her, it showed off everything so much better than the suit. Chi-Chi hadn’t given an opinion but he had noticed that after a certain point she had stopped talking.

*

Chi-Chi was going to kill Bulma. That was the only solution to their problem. Just straight up murder, because clearly her friend had picked up that she was hot for her bodyguard and Bulma was doing her best to get Chi-Chi to consider it. Bulma knew how much Chi-Chi liked purple, and the way she was forcing it on Junior, it was all a ploy to drive Chi-Chi nuts.

“I know what you’re doing,” Junior was attempting to juggle some of the bags as she slid her credit card into the machine, “and it’s not going to work. I don’t date anyone who works for my father.”

Bulma leaned against the counter, watching Junior fumble with the bags. “That’s a stupid rule. Technically Goku works for your dad”

“And I’m not dating him. Goku doesn’t even know what dating is. He thinks it has something to do with the fruit, I’m sure,” she stuffed her card into her purse, giving Bulma a look, “now shut up so we can leave. Unlike you, I don’t run on magical fairy energy and I do still have a hangover.”

“Says the woman who was up running after we went out drinking last night.”

*

“Okay did we lose the car?” Chi-Chi stood in the middle of the parking garage looking around. She was sure they had parked on level A but apparently there was also level AB and she was just confused now, 

“Bulma do you have a tracking app or something because we’re screwed…”

“About to be in more ways than one, Sweetheart…”


	3. Chapter 3

At the sound of the voice Chi-Chi spun on her heel, sure that it was just someone attempting to hit on her in a disgusting way. But instead she found something she would have rather not seen. Appule, along with a few other aliens that she couldn’t name were standing in the road like they owned the place. Chi-Chi didn’t have that many run ins with Freeza, she preferred to keep to herself unless his guys decided that they wanted to come after her. Which they had now.

“Is this about how I embarrassed one of your guys on national television or just because you like scaring women in dark places?” Chi-Chi felt Junior come up behind her, and the noise of the bags he was carrying dropping. She had backup, “I mean seriously Appule isn’t this a little below you?”

Bulma pulled back a bit, knowing that if she had to she could defend herself but whatever was going to happen would be between Chi-Chi, Junior and Freeza’s men. She had been in enough fights with Chi-Chi to know how it went.

“Not everything is about you Princess, though I know how much you humans love to assume that”, Appule flipped his head like he had a full head of hair, making his comment of Princess rather ironic, “We heard that you had a new body guard working for you, a Namekian even. I thought those little plants didn’t leave home”

Chi-Chi could feel Junior stiffen behind her, not that she blamed him, being called a plant and getting called out by one of Freeza’s men of all people was not a thing anything that anyone needed. She knew that Junior was unconformable with attention anyways, that was easy enough to tell form his reactions to people looking at him in general. So his own personal call out? Not cool.

“I think that my bodyguard isn’t any of Freeza’s concern. He should learn to keep his nose out of my business, and learn to look at little harder at his own. I heard you guys are still losing to Goku, and he’s only twenty two yet. What happens when he gets even older? Are you going to just keep losing even worse?”

Appule’s hair nearly stood on end at her comments, Chi-Chi knew where to dig and Goku was the best place for anyone associated with Freeza. There was little information on how he actually treated Sayians, but considering Freeza’s rep and how the world at large viewed Sayians she could guess. Like dogs basically, trained vicious animals that weren’t smart enough to do anything without his direction. And when a Sayian like GOku came and defeated all of Freeza’s supposedly perfectly trained warriors, well that had to sting. 

And she did so long to make someone hurt. 

“Your dog of a boyfriend won’t be on a winning streak for long. It’s all luck, we all know that. The Demon King almost killed him, who says that someone else won’t step up to the plate and do the same thing all over again?”

Now Chi-Chi was getting mad, Goku might not have been her boyfriend but they had been friends since childhood. Goku wasn’t a dog any more than any other Sayian was and she wasn’t about to let Appule or anyone imply that he should be dead.

“Do you want to say that a little closer or are you afraid that I’ll fuck up that pretty face? I mean more than it already is”, she pushed one foot forward, sliding just a little bit closer to Appule. She was sure she felt Junior’s hand on her elbow but she wasn’t about to let him stop her.  
Appule was edging closer as well though his backup didn’t seem to be making any move to assistant, “What the hell would you know about pretty? First you fuck monkeys and now plants? The next thing you know you’ll be whoring yourself for Mast—“

He never got to finish that sentence because Chi-Chi foot had connected with his chin sending him flying backwards. She stood there for a moment with her leg still raised, bent at the knee as she waited for anyone else to come at her, “Do you want to try that again you asshole? Or I mean if you can with a broken jaw”

Appule staggered to his feet, pushing away the others that tried to assist them. By the strange angle that his jaw was hanging out Chi-Chi knew that she was right and that she had broken it. Score one of the good guys. He gestured to his people and Bulma squealed as she was grabbed by two of the other aliens pulling her away from the fight. 

“Seriously? Are we doing this bullshit?” she had assumed that he would calm down once she hurt him and they wouldn’t have to deal with him any longer, “Go home to master little the little doggy you are and run home to master”

Zaborn made a strained groaned, between pain and anger as he rushed at her, his hands outstretched like he was going for her neck. Chi-Chi grabbed his wrist, and she felt the bones crack underneath her fingers. Using the force of his run, she took a step forward turning ever so slightly and tossed him, “Junior catch!”

Junior had a moment of confusion before he just raised his hands catching the upside down Appule. He clutched the alien to his chest looking at Chi-Chi with vague amusement.

“Just squeeze him until he passes out, around the chest”, she waved her hand at Appule and shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t totally sure what she had expected him to do once she had thrown Appule and Junior had him.

“Are his lungs even in his chest?” Junior asked, looking down at the creature in his arms, “He kind of looks like a frog don’t they breathe through their skin?”

Chi-Chi arched her eyebrows for a moment, considering just what he was saying about this, “I dunno, hey Appule how do you breathe?” Their captive glared at her which was a much less impressive look with his jaw hanging at an awkward angle. Chi-Chi sighed, “Just…do it anyways. Maybe he’ll pass out anyways, he has to be in a ridiculous amount of pain right now”

Meanwhile Bulma’s captors were looking between each other confused about what they were supposed to do without their boss one of them start to speak up, “If you don’t let him go we’ll…”, Bulma didn’t allow him to finish, her foot coming down so that the hell of her shoe through straight into his foot. Being a race that apparently didn’t wear shoes, this literally caused the hell to go through his shoe, blue blood spurting form the wound. In a cry of pain he released her, grabbing his bleeding foot.

His partner looked confused for a moment before he started convulsing, Bulma had her Taser pressed against his side. He fell the ground still shaking form the electrity flowing through his body. Bulma lifted up her foot, looking at the blood on her heel was slight disgust, “Ew, of course he couldn’t bleed red…”

Junior dropped Appule to the floor, the alien now completely passed out, “Is this what always happens with you two? Am I going to have to worry about you getting attacked in dark alleys and punching ugly ass aliens in the face?”

“I kicked him in the face,” Chi-Chi said in her own defense, poking Appule with her foot. After a thought, she brought her foot down on his collar bone, or where she guessed there were be a bone with an enough force that she could hear the snap. Maybe she had hurt him enough already but he called her a whore and no one got away with that.

“I’m going to bill Freeza for my shoes”, Bulma pouted, though she was watching Chi-Chi. She loved it when Chi-Chi fought even if that was one of the shortest fights that her friend had ever been in, “What does he even want with you?”

Chi-Chi strolled over to one of the men that Bulma had taken out, pushing her foot into his ribs to catch his attention, “Hey. Asshole. Are you asleep or what?”

The body groaned, his large yellow eyes just barely opening enough for her to see the pain and digest in his eyes, “What the hell do you want w—“

She rolled her rolls slamming her toes right into his rib cage, “Whoops looks like you have some broken ribs now, you were saying?”

He groaned attempting to rap his arms again his ribs so that he could try and protect himself, “...I’m awake”

Chi-Chi went to kick him again before he continued, “Ma’am, I’M AWAKE MA’AM”, he was slithering across the floor the best he could trying to get away from her.

“Fantastic. Now what the hell was all of this about? And if you lie, I will be forced to break something else. Maybe something important I have nooo idea what your body does”, she gave him a grin that promised that she be actually murder him. He nodded, waiting for the question to be posed to him, “Why the hell does Freeza want Junior?”

He took a breath, “He didn’t tell us anything just that he wanted to see if you really had the Namekian working for you. He didn’t believe it”, he took another wheezing breath, and “I don’t know why he cares about one stupid plant”

Chi-Chi turned towards Junior, but he just shrugged in reply He wasn’t going to tell her why everyone was so interested in him, not unless you came right out an asked. It was his personal business that he had thought he had left behind. So much for his fucking fresh start, it was being ruined by a pink asshole. 

“…Let’s just get back to the house before they call in the cops or Calvary or something. I don’t find the idea of spending the night in jail all that appealing right now”, Chi-Chi started to pick up the bags that Junior had dropped, “Unless you two want to do that?”

Junior and Bulma shook their heads, agreeing that there was no reason to hang around any longer. Though Bulma did put in a call to 911 about a possible gang war in the parking garage. Hopefully the injured would get medical attention and Freeza would get in even more trouble. 

*

Bulma had known there was something wrong with Chi-Chi since they left the garage, she had been limping ever so slightly. Not enough that anyone who didn’t know her would notice, but Bulma had been around Chi-Chi for years, she had memorized every step and movement of her hips. When Ch-Chi sent Junior away as soon as they pulled into her driveway, she knew for sure that was something seriously wrong. 

“What’s wrong?” She let the door shut behind them and Chi-Chi’s face contorted into a mask of pain. 

She had been holding that in since she had kicked Appule, just so Junior wouldn’t know how badly she had hurt herself, “His jaw was stronger then I thought”, she admitted, limping over to the couch. Chi-Chi unlaced her boot, pulling it off with some effort. When it came off, she could see that the area of her socks around her toes was completely stained with blood, “Shit”

Bulma sighed, there had been worse injuries and there had been less serve ones but she knew how to deal with all of them. She went into the kitchen and grabbed the first aid kit, “Do you want some hot water too?”

Chi-Chi pulled at her sock before replying, “…I can’t get my sock off…so yes”

She filled up a bowl with hot water and grabbed a cloth coming back into the living room with everything. She knealt beside Chi-Chi’s foot, gently taking it and sliding it into the hot water, “…You should have told him. He’s your bodyguard”, the water was turning dark red with the blood. Bulma’s hand drifted up Chi-Chi’s leg, stroking the skin gently. 

“Ugh…no. I’m not doing that”, the sock came off easily once the blood was soaked off, “He’s not…I’m not going to do that”

Bulma arched an eyebrow turning Chi-Chi’s foot over in her hands, “Is this one of those things about not showing weakness? Because that’s not healthy…”, she dunked the foot back into the hot water, attempting to wash the rest of the dried blood off, “Not that you’ve ever been good at healthy”

Chi-Chi flicked the water at Bulma with her foot, “You drink too much and you haven’t gone home in months. Which one of us isn’t healthy again?” She had to admit on some leave that Bulma was right, at least two of her toe nails had come completely away form her toes, causing all of the bleeding. Not to mention her toes were starting to turn purple with brusing, “I need steel toe boots”

“Do you want me to deal with your foot or what?” Bulma cleaned the water off of Chi-Chi’s foot, grabbing the anti-biotic cream form the case, spreading it over the destroyed toes, “And yeah the fact your boots weren’t strong enough is totally the fucking problem”

“It would help”

Bulma wrapped Chi-Chi toes in bandages, taping them off, “We’ll have to change that later, because I think you’re sstill bleeding underneath”

Chi-Chi grabbed Bulma’s hands, pulling her up until Bulma was standing over her, “Thank you. I really mean that…”

She snorted, letting herself fall into Chi-Chi’s lap. Bulma’s fingers worked into Chi-Chi’s bun, letting it fall around Chi-Chi’s shoulders, “Why does violence always get you in the mood?” her fingers ran through the black strands, rubbing small circles into Chi-Chi’s scalp. A movement that caused the other woman to lean into the touch.

“I never said I was horny”, Chi-Chi graoned slightly, her face almost pushed into Bulma’s shoulder, “I’m…I love you Bul”

Bulma blinked, it wasn’t that they didn’t say that to each other. It was more that it was a whispered phrase, in the dark when they were wrapped into each other, “I love you too Chi, I just wish you wouldn’t do this to yourself”

Chi-Chi tilted her head up, “We’ve talked about this”, she put her hand behind Bulma’s head, pulling the other woman down to her level. She pressed her lips against Bulma’s, a soft kiss that only showed how tired and done with the day Chi-Chi was.

“Go to sleep Chi”, Bulma continued to rub those small circles into Chi-Chi’s skin, like she had so many times before. She leaned into Chi-Chi, her head against the couch. It seemed they would sleep on the couch that night.

*

Junior’s chest like it was going to collapse, and even when he was at home the feeling didn’t abet. He had been sure that Zaborn or one of his men were going to out him to Chi-Chi. Maybe she wouldn’t care, but knowing that she was friends with Goku that made it seriously unlikely. He had beaten the shit out of her not boyfriend on more than one occasion, and he had seen what happened when Chi-Chi got called names. What would she do to someone who had hurt someone she cared about?

Oh she would murder him. Fuck. He had seen what she could do and whatever it was that she would do to him would be horrible and violent. So in the best interest of keeping his job and his heart in his chest, she wasn’t allowed to know for the moment. Which would be better for the both of them, if he was going to protect her then she was going to have to trust him.

And he would have to be alive. 

He put his head in his hands and groaned, why the ever loving fuck did he think this job was going to be easy? Nothing in his life was easy, oh work for your father? Almost kill someone and go to fucking jail. Get a well paying job and it turns out the girl is your father’s fucking rival’s best friend.

Because the universe fucking hated Junior.

*

Junior was nervous when he showed up to the house, what if Chi-Chi had looked up the name Junior and Namekian? What if Bulma somehow knew who he was and had revealed it? Finding out that the plan was for them to go clubbing that night didn’t help anything. Namekians didn’t have clubs. Prison didn’t have clubs. There was nothing in his life to prepare him for this. A Fight Club maybe, and that kind of sounded more like something that Chi-Chi would be into. But he knew that wasn’t where they were going, it would be. It was going to be a terrifying mess of lights and drunk people, and dancing. What the fuck was he was supposed to do with that?

If he had thought that Bulma and Chi-Chi’s clothes the day before were extreme he wasn’t ready for what they were planning on wearing out of the club. He was very much not ready for Bulma’s bright red crop top and high waisted shorts, with those velvet heels she was almost looking him in the eyes. 

At least Chi-Chi was wearing more clothes in her purple crop top, ripped jeans and a purple leather jacket. Her boots with metal accents made a hell of a lot more sense to him then Bulma’s shoes no matter what she could do with those heels.

He was starting to understand why they had insisted on changing his clothes before he came with them to the club. With his suit, he would have stuck out like a sore thumb.

And now as Bulma would say, “Ain’t nobody fresher than my cliché”. 

Which he didn’t understand but he figured it was good form the way that she had said it. Walking in the club, he did get the feeling that everyone was staring at them, in a way that didn’t make him feel nervous for once. But a swell of courage almost, everyone was staring at them because they were commanding respect and attention. They weren’t scaring anyone, just attracting attention because they looked good. Or the girls did for sure, he was sure that they would turn heads anywhere that they went.

It was clear that they had been to their club before because the girls picked out one table in the corner, where they could watch the room and if anyone wanted to see them, they could be seen. Chi-Chi slid into the middle while Bulma sat on one side and Junior sat on the other. For a moment he could the feeling of a queen holding court with her consort and loyal knight. 

“Do you see anyone?” Chi-Chi leaned towards Bulma, their eyes scanning the room, “Or is it dead tonight?”

Bulma shrugged pulling her phone out as she began to flip through some sort of database filled with pictures, “None of Freeza’s men so we don’t have to worry about that unless he somehow managed to get new people since our last recon. But really do you think he’s that smart?”

“Not likely”, Junior muttered, doing his own scanning of the room. He was looking for threats over looking for someone to punch in the face like the girls were. The only thing he was really worried about was a flying bullet or something Chi-Chi wouldn’t see coming, she could defend herself against only so much.

Chi-Chi snorted at his comment, before coughing in an attempt to cover up the noise, “I have to agree with Junior, he’s probably sulking about how I beat the shit out of Appule and he won’t be able to compete in the next tournament” 

“True”, Bulma’s fingers tapped across the phone, correcting something in her little database, “Though I won’t doubt there will be some kind of retribution, he doesn’t take kindly to a human showing him up. Or taking away one of his prospective employees”

“Who?” Junior asked, tilting his head he was sure that there was someone watching them but he couldn’t totally see who it was, it was more of a mental feeling then an actual sighting of a silent watcher. 

The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes, “You”, Bulma replied, “A Namekian who fights, despite the stereotypes is pretty unusual and we all know that. How many of them are you? Three or four? You’re a big dude with big claws, not to mention whatever abilities you guys have. Freeza’s kind of a…” she waved her hand.

Chi-Chi picked up where Bulma left off, “A collector. He collects fighters like they’re pets and that’s how he treats them. So I would hope that’d you rather stay with us Junior? Even if there would be a bigger pay check involved?” She smiled at him, a real smile not one of her little smirks.

Junior felt his face flush and suddenly he just stood up almost smacking his head into the light above their table, “Do we need drinks?” he said quickly trying to think of any reason to get away from the table at this exact moment.

“White Russian!” Bulma perked up at the idea of drinks, “And a martini for Chi-Chi”

Chi-Chi blew air out of her nose, shaking her head a little bit, “Once day you aren’t going to order for me anymore”, but she didn’t refute the order, just waved at Junior, shooing him away from their table.

*  
“  
Do you have any idea about why Freeza wants Junior? Beyond that bullshit you gave him? I’d still like to know how he found out I was getting a new bodyguard anyways”, Chi-Chi drummed her fingers on the table, “I don’t like my fucking privacy being invaded”

Bulma shrugged, her phone in her hands as she listened to Chi-Chi to speak, “I’m working on it, you didn’t say anything on social media because you hate it and the first day he was with us was the day that Appule found us. Unless someone in your dad’s office is reporting to Freeza”

“Fantastic. A spy. Is this my life now?” Chi-Chi’s eyes scanned the room, looking for anyone who might look threatening as well as trying to track Junior. Even with his height and colour, the crowding of the club made it hard to track him. 

Instead of Junior her eyes caught a shorter man with hair that added almost an inch to his height. She was sure that he was watching them, but every time she looked at him, his eyes darted away. There was something about him that was familiar but she couldn’t seem to place him.

She nudged Bulma, drawing her attention to the man, “Do you know him? One of your old boyfriends or something?”

Bulma did a double take at the man her eyes narrowed, “…not a boyfriend but. God, I know what you mean, he looks so familiar doesn’t he?”

Chi-Chi stood up, “he’s being a total creep. I’m going to talk to him…” she scooted out from the booth, Bulma following after her.

“Don’t you mean punch?” Bulma muttered.

“Sh!” Chi-Chi shot Bulma a look and they made their way to the strange man’s table. He was attempting to pretend that he couldn’t see them, crossing his arms with his head turned completely away from them. 

Chi-Chi tapped her boot against the floor as she looked at him, waiting for him to look at her. When he didn’t she spoke up, “Do we know you?”

He coughed finally looking towards them, as he did she could see a brown tail wrapped around his waist. Sayian, she wasn’t expecting that, “…Are you Chi-Chi?”

She felt like she had this conversation a few times before and it was really starting to get annoying, “If I am then I still want to know who the hell you are, before I have to force it out of you”

He snorted, giving her a haughty look that she had seen so many times on men before. He didn’t think she could take him, why would he? She was a human and a woman against a male sayian, there was no way, “I am looking for—“

“He’s Vegeta”, Bulma butted in, waving her phone in Chi-Chi’s face, with Vegeta’s face proudly displayed on the screen, “You know Prince Vegeta”

Chi-Chi scowled, “I thought you said that none of Freeza’s men where here tonight!” 

Vegeta attempted to speak up as he was not used to be ignored like this but Bulma cut him off again, “He’s a former employee. Doesn’t work for Freeza anymore, got dropped after oh? Goku kicked his ass bad. Used to be one of Freeza’s top men before that that has to sting doesn’t it?”

“Give me that phone woman!” Vegeta popped up from his chair reaching for Bulma’s wrist. His face which had been natural before was now twisted into a threatening scowl.

Chi-Chi grabbed his arm, pulling him away from Bulma. She twisted his arm behind his back pulling him towards her until they were nearly flush which each other, “What. Do. You. Want”, she hissed in his ear, squeezing Vegeta’s arm tighter as he attempted to get away from her.

Vegeta’s foot hooked into hers and he pulled, unknowingly having caught her bad foot. The pain was enough to make her stumble and release him. When he was out of her grasp he spun around to face her again, “You dare to manhandle me? Do you know who I—“

Instead of waiting for him to finish Chi-Chi just pulled her arm back and punched him straight in the nose. She was not having anything of anyone’s shit right now and if he wanted to rant and rave at her she was just going to punch him.

Vegeta’s hand flew up to his nose, blood already flowing from underneath his fingers, “What the hell is wrong with you!” though the voice was a little bit muffled and stuffed up, and he still managed to sound like a pretentious ass. 

Junior managed to come up to them at that moment holding their drinks. He looked between Chi-Chi and Vegeta, then set the drinks on the table because he got the feeling they wouldn’t be needing them, “Why?” was his only question.

“…He went for Bulma”, Chi-Chi told him with a shrug, pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and handing it to Vegeta. He stared at it before she sighed, “For your nose. Don’t bleed all over your shirt asshole. Lean forward and pinch the bridge of your nose”, now that the pain was starting to fade a little bit, she was less angry at him. He hadn’t known her foot was a mess, it had just been an accident. 

He took the handkerchief but continued to glare at her even as he took her direction.

“Are we going to be leaving then? Since you decided to break a random man’s nose?” Junior was really wishing for a drink right now, but he knew what alcohol did to him and he wasn’t willing to deal with that and Chi-Chi right now.

“I am Vegeta the Prince of All Sayians!” though the comment held a lot of less weight with his nose plugged with blood, “And I will be respected!”

Junior looked at Vegeta again, apparently only really seeing him for the first time, “What the fuck Chi-Chi”, he was having a hard time believing that his charge actually punched the Prince of All Sayians in the face. Not that he should have been, everything she had already done in the past few days had proved to him that she was fucking insane.

She shrugged her shoulder before she grabbed Vegeta’s nose. He had been starting to release the hankie and she could still see the blood flowing. With not gentleness she shoved his head down and grasped his nose with her fingers, “DO you want to stop breathing because blood goes into your lungs, you idiot?”

Vegeta grumbled, but allowed her to continue taking care of him, if a bit grudgingly. Junior was starting to think that she was a lot crazier than he thought. She had nearly destroyed two men the other day and now she was tending to the man she had punched in the face.

“Chi-Chi are we going to leave?” Bulma asked, knowing that her friend had gotten distract trying to take care of Vegeta, “I mean people are staring”

Chi-Chi released Vegeta’s nose, looking for a moment to see if the blood had stopped when it hadn’t she took his hand and put it over his nose where he should hold it, “If it doesn’t stop bleeding you should go to the hospital, alright?”

He blinked, before nodding his head. He seemed to be a little more shell-shocked than anything else, like he couldn’t believe what was happening, “You’re…cloth”, he managed to get out.

“Keep it. It’s cover in your blood anyways”, she waved her hand before turning back to Junior and Bulma, “Yeah I guess we should get out of here. Enough excitement for one night”

As they left, Vegeta kept his eyes on the retreating trio. If the fact a Namekian was hanging around two human girls hadn’t been weird enough, he had gotten punched in the face and then she had helped him. All he had wanted was information on Goku but he had found something a little bit more interesting. Maybe he would return her handkerchief after he had it cleaned. Only for another chance to ask her about Goku of course, it had nothing to do with his interest in the strange girl and her strange friends.


	4. Chapter 4

With seeing what Chi-Chi could do, Junior was really starting to…feel something even more strangely than annoyance mixed with arousal. It was more like arousal mixed with pride, a pride that he was building for his ridiculously fantastic woman. He was learning that technically her fights weren’t always just her instigating, but protecting people. More than one drunk girl at a club had come up to her and called Chi-Chi her “fabulous punching angel”. He was at the same time starting to get why no one wanted to work for her. Generally, a bodyguard was supposed to stop their charge from doing the things that she liked to do so much.

Like sitting on the back of a man that had to be twice her size strangling him with his own necklace. He hadn’t actually caught what the man had done, but he supposed that didn’t really matter. She would explain it later, she always did, but he was getting the feeling it had to do with the light blue skinned woman who Bulma was comforting.

“Are you actually going to kill him?” He asked, watching as the victim’s face began to turn the same shade of blue as the girl’s.

She shrugged but released the necklace, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter, “I thought that maybe he would like it if I did to him what he was doing to our new friend over there. Did you see him? He was strangling her”

Junior turned to Bulma and the girl, who only nodded at him, “Fine but don’t you think we should call the police or something? I thought that humans could do that kind of thing”

Chi-Chi shoved her hands against the man’s back, jumping to her feet. She looked at the down body for a moment like she wanted to do something, but resisted the urge, “I can call the police all I want, but do you think they’ll do anything for her?” she pointed to the girl again, “She’s an alien and an escort. That’s the double whammy of ‘why the fuck should we help you’. And I think we both know that”

“I didn’t think rich human girls cared”, Junior watched her, her arms crossed as she glared at the floor.

“I have a soul”, was all that she said to him. Her attention was focused on the girl now, “Are you alright? Ah, I didn’t catch your name”

The girl brushed her hand across her four eyes, blinking for a moment, “Falya, thank…you Miss. You didn’t have to do that for me. He wouldn’t have killed me”

Chi-Chi sighed, putting a hand on her hip but she didn’t say anything. She had heard the spiel before, “he wasn’t going to kill me, he just gets angry sometimes” 

“Here”, a bundle of cash came out of her jacket, and was shoved straight into the Falya’s hand, “I don’t care if you have to keep doing your job, I just want you to get safe for a little while all right?”

Falya’s mouth opened as she began to protest, but Chi-Chi clamped her hand down across the bundle of cash, “Please”

Falya nodded, shoving the money into her purse. Before she left she wrapped her arms around Chi-Chi, pressing a kiss against her cheek, “…Thank you. I didn’t believe that there was anyone looking after us. Earth…it’s harder than they told us. Thank you so much Miss” and with that, she was gone, sprinting like she was afraid that her good fortune would suddenly disappear.

“…I think I want to go somewhere less shitty. Any suggestions Bulma?”

Bulma smirked, pulling her phone out and began to read a list of clubs off of her phone until Chi-Chi agreed on one. He was amazed that she could go from choking a man out, to giving a poor alien girl money. To wanting to keep clubbing. Whatever was going on inside the mind of Chi-Chi he couldn’t even begin to imagine it. It wasn’t that she was really any nicer, she was still beyond prickly to him even after a week of hanging around. Maybe the month would give him in the Intel he needed to even start beginning to understand her.

*

Vegetal would never admit that he waited at the same club for the trio to come back, with the cleaned, pressed handkerchief in his pocket. It wasn’t like he honestly had anything else to do or anywhere else that he could find them. So he waited, to the point where he was starting to think that maybe smashing his head into the table was a better way to go about it than just sitting here. He couldn’t even really explain why he wanted to see them so badly. It was something…not just because Chi-Chi had punched him, or because Bulma was gorgeous (not that he had noticed), but the fact she had a Namekian around and there hadn’t been a single racist comment out of her mouth…

He liked that. He liked the very idea that there was a human or two that exist who weren’t racist pieces of shit because it was starting to feel like the whole world hated him. It was a different feeling than from when he was a child and Earth was the Promised Land. Planet Vegeta had been destroyed, so the very idea that someone might want to take them, even if there was only a few hundred of them left, was one that seemed like a dream.

But of course that dream had all gone to shit. His father had tried to protect him from the bullshit of the world until he had died at least. Six-year-old Vegeta had learned maybe a little bit too fast that everything was always going to be terrible. Humans didn’t care about him. His people were nearly gone and he was alone. Maybe that was why he was so okay with being adopted by the Colds; it meant a new family even if they weren’t Saiyans. He accepted all of it; the violence, the torment because he thought that meant he would be accepted and that he would mean something to the Colds.

Not that he did, the moment he lost to some half-baked Saiyan who barely knew what he was he was dumped. He had been Freeza’s whipping boy for years and all he got in return was a slap across the face and plenty of words about how worthless he was. So he left. Why should he put up with that any longer? What was he getting out of it? Pain? Glory? He could get his own glory and there was no reason to put himself through that much more pain for nothing.

That had been the original reason that he had come to meet Chi-Chi. He figured that through Goku’s girlfriend maybe he could find and beat the shit out of Goku. It hadn’t worked out that way, of course, he had ended up with a broken nose. And then very confused when she had decided to help him. It wasn’t like she was particularly comforting, she was still abrasive and rough, but… she could have made a good Sayian.

He had started to think that she was never coming back to this club because she had gotten into a fight, so he was very surprised when the blue haired one dropped into the chair next to him, “Vegeta!”

Vegeta nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of his name, it was never good when someone yelled his name. When he noticed who it was, he calmed down only slightly. She was better than Freeza or any of his men- at least she wouldn’t punch him. But she might drive him crazy.

“Where’s your violent friend?” he stirred his drink, some terrible mix of sugar and alcohol that wouldn’t even get him drunk, “Is she waiting around the corner to hit me with a bottle or something?”

Bulma snorted, leaning back in her chair just enough that the chair was on two legs, “She’s getting a drink. I think. I dunno, I just thought that I should come say Hi. I mean we left on such bad terms last time. Why, I am not allowed to talk to you? We’re not the mob or anything”

“I would hope not, you three are much too flamboyant to be criminals. Or at least anything more than terrible petty criminals. What do you do? Steal people’s credit card information?”

Bulma pulled his drink from his hand, taking a sip of it, “I don’t do anything. I just like Chi-Chi. Plus I have enough money that if I did steal credit cards it would be fucking stupid. I mean I can do so many other things…so many more interesting things” 

Before he could reply, Chi-Chi dropped into the chair next to Vegeta and Junior settled on the other side of the table. Was this going to be how he died? Surrounded by a bunch of assholes who were too damn weird for their own good.

Instead of worrying about that he pulled the handkerchief out of his pocket, holding it out for Chi-Chi to take, “I got it cleaned. I don’t like to have things hanging over my head”

Chi-Chi grabbed it with a smirk, tucking in a way into her pocket, “Thank you. Your nose looks better, did you take my advice?” She shrugged her jacket off, tossing it over the back of the chair.

He touched his nose with a few fingers, feeling the swelling around the bridge. It was still a shade of purple, and almost twice the size that it should have been, but she was right it looked much better than what he had the night she had punched him, “It would look better if someone’s fist hadn’t made contact with my nose”

She took a swig of her drink, “If you hadn’t grabbed Bulma then I wouldn’t have had to hurt you. It’s really that simple. I mean you don’t go just grabbing at every woman that you see right? Unless you do and then I might have to punch you again because that’s seriously fucked up”

Bulma was playing with her phone, barely paying attention to what the others were doing. Junior was watching the pair across from him, curious about what the hell Chi-Chi’s plan here was. Or if she had a plan at all. He was pretty sure that she did but she was also Chi-Chi and fifty percent of what she did seemed to be just to fuck with him. Him and everyone else in the world that wasn’t her and Bulma.

Vegeta glared at her, “That wouldn’t be behavior befitting of a prince, even one without a kingdom. Saiyans aren’t animals, we have morals and self-control”

“I know that. I apologize if I suggested anything like that”, she leaned forward against the table. “I like Sayians. You’re good people, at least the few that I’ve met. And yes I am including you in that. I like you Vegeta you tried to beat me up,despite knowing who I am. That takes balls”

Junior snorted at that comment, he hadn’t really been expecting that. It was lucky that he wasn’t drinking anything or it might have come out of his nose, “I find it weird that you think someone wanting to beat you up is a sign of a good friend”

Chi-Chi waved her hand at him, “Shush, you aren’t involved in this are you? If he wants to kill me then you can get involved. For the moment we’re being perfectly pleasant, don’t you think?”

Junior rolled his eyes. The idea of perfectly pleasant and Chi-Chi combined was one that sounded more like bullshit than anything else. But she was being fairly nice for her, he just wasn’t sure how long that she could keep it up for.

“…I’m not your friend, woman”, Vegeta scowled, wishing that he had managed to get his drink back from Bulma. Even if the alcohol didn’t work for him it was still something to do, “I’m not any of your friends”  
Chi-Chi downed the rest of her drink, patting Vegeta on the shoulder,  
“You keep thinking that. Junior!”

He probably should learn what just was in those drinks she liked so much because she had apparently gone from not drunk too at least a little bit tipsy, “Yes, Chi-Chi?”

“We’re going to dance while Bulma convinces Vegeta of the merits of my friendship!” She sprang to her feet, grabbing Junior by the shoulder. She nearly pulled him out of the chair before he managed to get to his feet.

“Why!” just when he was starting to maybe think that he was getting what went on with Chi-Chi she would spring something weird like this on him.

“Cause”

Bulma smiled as she watched them go, she was sure that in the morning when Chi-Chi was sober that Chi-Chi was going to be a lot more upset with what she had done. But for the moment, they were going to have fun, even if it was a little bit of an issue that Chi-Chi couldn’t seem to have fun without a drink in her.

“So... you cleaned it for her?” Bulma arched her eyebrow, sliding her phone away as she did, “That’s adorable. It’s like you have a crush on her!”

Vegeta flushed, crossing his arms over his chest, “I have no such thing. I do not…find your human friend attractive”, he wouldn’t say that the one he found attractive was Bulma. Even if she terrified him with her low cut shirt and bare skin. Especially when he could see metal glittering form her stomach. It wasn’t unusual for Saiyans to pierce or wear jewelry, but that was a ritual sort of idea. Humans did it for the look of it, inflicting pain on themselves for the sake of attractiveness.

“Good. Because I have my own plans for Chi-Chi that don’t involve you”, she pointed at him with one bright red nail, coming a little too close for Vegeta’s comfort. He scooted back a little bit, trying to get away her, “Not that you aren’t cute”

“…you are a strange and confusing woman and I would like it if you would cease harassing me”, he continued to scoot away from Bulma until he was almost all the way around to the other side of the table, “I thought that you were supposed to be convincing me that I was supposed to join your strange little band?”

“I’m working on it. The last time I made a friend was when I met Chi-Chi. She threw a guy through a plate glass window for me and then we got drunk and had sex. I don’t think that’s going to work for us…unless you want it to?” she raised her eyebrows and wiggled them at Vegeta.

He made a noise of confusion and jerked back, almost falling out of his  
chair as he did so. He would have preferred to get punched in the nose again then deal with this. Vegeta wasn’t a man that was used to being flirted with so overtly, romance wasn’t exactly on his list of things to do.

“…do you know why your creepy ass boss is so interested in Chi-Chi?” She had noticed his discomfort and decided to let up a little bit, “Because I want to punch him in the face but I need reasons to do it. I guess”

Vegeta wiggled his nose, “I wouldn’t want to think about it. I prefer not to think too much about what he wants with any human women. He’s…” he grunted gently.

“Gross?” Bulma filled in, downing the rest of the drink she had stolen, “You have terrible taste in drinks. Why do you say, human women? Is…it just a…”

“Fetish. It’s a fetish”

Bulma looked a little like she wanted to vomit and run to find Chi-Chi at the same time. She was starting to wish that she hadn’t asked.

*

Junior was really not sure how to dance. Not that he was about to admit that Chi-Chi, especially not when she had such a strong grip on his hand. He knew that she was able to snap his wrist, but she was hanging just strong enough that he couldn’t get out without hurting her. For the moment at least.

He could swear that the music was thumping even harder now on the dance floor like the speakers were right underneath them. There was a crush of people all around them and Chi-Chi seemed to insist on pulling them right into the middle of it all. It was almost as if she was trying to make the pair of them disappear into all of the people, become anonymous in the crowd.

She stopped, suddenly enough that he almost ran straight into her. It seemed like she was in a trance before she started to move. Chi-Chi’s hips twisted her hair flying over her shoulder as she spun to face him. He stared, as she raised an eyebrow at his frozen state clearly waiting for him to do something.

“Come on, don’t you dance?” she had to yell over all of the people and the music, “Just move, you loser”, she put her hands on his chest, pushing at him. He wasn’t sure if that was a dance move or her just trying to spur him on.

Seeing that it wasn’t going to be that easy, her hips began to move, her hands still on his chest. One of them slid up to his shoulder as she pressed herself closer against him. There was more than a little bit of a smirk on her face and he could smell whatever it was that she had been drinking. There had been more than a little alcohol in the drink she had, enough to get her tipsy and in a good mood. He moved his feet a little bit, still not really sure what the hell he was doing. But it seemed to be enough considering the crush of people was shoving him around like driftwood on the rough sea.

Her hands moved to his hips, hooking her fingers into his belt loops as she pressed him right against her. Chi-Chi twisted again releasing one of his belt loops. Her ass was now pressed against his legs and he was even more confused. Junior couldn’t figure out what to do with his hands, just holding them against his legs with more awkwardness than he had felt as a kid in human school.

*

She was ninety percent sure that Junior had no idea how to dance but that didn’t deter her at all from pulling him onto the dance floor. She had her reasons, and one of those was she wanted to have some fun for once in her life. Not a violent sort of fun, just normal club fun, dancing with a cute guy. Even if that guy was a Namekian who worked for her father and looked confused at the suggestion that he dance. But there was only so much that she could do with what she had. So she made it work, and she knew that she could make it work.

Chi-Chi let her hands grab Junior’s, putting them on her hips. He hesitated for a moment but she held his hands there. If he couldn’t dance then he was going to get a firsthand lesson. Dancing with Junior was different than dancing with Bulma, not just in that Bulma could actually dance but in that Junior was so much bigger than Bulma. She could feel the weight of him at her back, a heavy and warm presence that was like nothing else in the world. Even if hands were almost heavy, the size of them enough to cover her hips completely. He was more like a wall then a dance partner, not that she complained. It was…nice, she liked having him this close. Even if the rational part of her was screaming that this was stupid, the drunk part of her didn’t care.

Chi-Chi let her hips sway, making Junior’s hands move with her. She wasn’t really focusing on being good right now, no one could see her in the dark and all of the people, just moving with the music. Between the music, and the alcohol she was starting to feel warm and good, not really thinking about anything else. She grasped Junior’s hands in hers again moving them up her body until they were on her ribs. She put her hands on his hips, wiggling down to the floor before turning around and coming back up. It never occurred to her what that must look like to him, how bad of a position it was.

Junior grabbed her arm, pulling her against him. At first, she thought he was finally getting into it until he was speaking in her ear.  
“What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to seduce me?” His breath was hot on her ear and for a split second she considered saying that yes. She was. She wanted him right there to kiss her and…

Until Sober Chi-Chi kicked drunk Chi-Chi’s ass hard enough that it almost hurt, “I’m just trying to have fun”, she hissed, pulling away from him, “Do you think I’m some kind of fucking loser who has to sleep with people who work for my father? That I have to pay to get laid!”

She didn’t see the shock on his face at her outburst as she shoved her way through the crowd of people. She was hot and angry now, the music giving her a headache instead of making her happy and free. The last place she wanted was to be in this disgusting club, full of people who smelled like nothing more than sweat and stale beer.

Junior followed her, having an easier time getting through the crowd but a harder time following her. Small black haired women weren’t uncommon and every few seconds it seemed like someone was trying to grab and grind on him for a dance. With that distraction, he lost her. When he was off of the dance floor she had completely disappeared.

*

Chi-Chi stomped her way outside, wishing that she hadn’t left her jacket at the table with Bulma. It was colder than she had thought.. Even most of the anger that she had been feeling drained away leaving only clarity. She had been a fucking idiot. Junior had no idea why she wanted to dance with him and in her stupidity she had been grinding on him like they were dating or he was just some guy she wanted to fuck. He didn’t know her rules, and she had blown up at him for nothing.

She was really good at that. Blowing up at people for nothing, there was a reason that she only really had two friends, one of which would deal with anyone he was so damn happy go lucky. Goku would befriend a murderer if he thought the guy was reformed. Not that she didn’t love Goku, everyone loved Goku. It was just that she couldn’t believe how nice he was to everyone sometimes, even when she couldn’t control her temper.

It was times like this she wished she smoked or something so at least she had an excuse to hide outside for a few more minutes. She was sure that Junior was concerned, he was supposed to be protecting her. But hopefully, Bulma would tell him that was just what she did. Ran off when things got a little too heated.

“Fuck”, she whispered to herself, smacking her head back against the brick wall, just enough to give a little bit of pain. Punishment for being such a fucking idiot, it was easier than going back inside to apologize for what she had done. She wasn’t good at saying sorry, even when she had been wrong. And at least she knew that she had been wrong this time. Sometimes it was harder to realize that she was being stupid.

“Hello there”, the voice was almost slimy, the sound of it crawling over her skin. In an instance she knew who it belonged to, someone that she really fucking didn’t want to deal with right now, “I heard you had a little bit of trouble earlier”

She shrugged, staring straight ahead as she tried not to turn to the source of the voice, “Depends on what you mean. If you’re looking for Vegeta he’s inside. I want nothing to do with you”

“You can be so cruel, maybe we can help each other out Miss Chi-Chi, and I mean we’re in the same business after all”

“I thought I told you that I want nothing to do with you”, she turned to him, seeing that terrible purple grin turned at her, “Freeza”


	5. Chapter 5

“You lost her?” Bulma had to laugh at Junior’s admittance, it wasn’t that she didn’t believe him; it was more that she couldn’t believe it hadn’t happened sooner, “Oh my god, what the hell happened?”

“How do you even lose a woman?” Vegeta grumbled, he was getting much too involved with all of these damn people, even when he had just met them the week before. But there was something about the trio that sucked him in and wouldn’t let him leave or stop caring about their stupid problems.

“You forget to cherish her,” Bulma shot back, before turning to Junior. “Seriously, though, how?”

Junior groaned, pushing his head into his hands, “We were dancing…and I asked her what the hell she was doing…and then she got mad at me because she doesn’t fuck people her father pays and then she left and she’s so short.”

Bulma laughed again, but she reached across the table to grab Junior’s hands, “Calm down, Sweetie. She does this, gets cranky and runs off. Beyond that…” she didn’t really like getting into Chi-Chi’s business, but her friend wasn’t the best at explaining things about herself. “She has issues. People who want to get with her just because of who she is, or because they think it’ll get them in better with her dad.”

He raised his head, realizing that what she had said was lining up with what Chi-Chi had yelled at him. At least Bulma was slightly more coherent then Chi-Chi, “…she thought I was going to sleep with her because I work for her father?” 

“Well maybe not, but she just kind of…well, she’s twitchy. She assumes that even if you suggested it, then you were thinking about it… She might have calmed down now but you might want to leave her alone for a couple more minutes. She’ll calm down and then want to apologize, or be grumpy at you.”

“Human women are ridiculous,” Vegeta grumbled before Bulma smacked him on the back of the head.

Junior rubbed his face, and sighed, “I…feel better I suppose. As long as I don’t have to dance anymore. I’m not very good at it.”

“I thought that dancing was some sort of human ritual for sex or courting. Why would she dance with him if she didn’t want to mate?” Vegeta rubbed the back of his head, scooting the chair all the way around the table. He wasn’t going to let her hit him again. 

Junior pointed a finger at Vegeta, “He’s talking sense for once. Why the hell did she want to dance with me anyways? All I can see out there is a bunch of grinding humans who are projecting the desire to fuck so strongly I thought I was going to puke.”

Bulma tapped her fingers on the table, rolling her eyes at the pair of men, “Look, if a girl dances at a place like this, one thing will happen. She’ll get mobbed by a bunch of gross dudes. If we dance together, then we both get mobbed because two girls are even hotter then one. If she dances with you, then you’re a wall between her and the rest of the assholes. I mean she could have told you, but she was drinking.”

He laid his head on the table; his head was starting to pound with the beat of the music. An incredibly unpleasant feeling, “Should she back by now? Is this when I’m supposed to start getting concerned?”

“…I’ll text her. See what’s going on alright?” Bulma was tapping away at her phone before he could reply.

Even through his pounding headache he could still feel something; as he had told Bulma, just about all he could feel was sexual energy but there was the faint undertone of fear and anger underneath it all. He had been feeling the anger for a little while, that wasn’t unusual because Chi-Chi had been so angry. But now that her anger was mixed with fear he was starting to get concerned. Chi-Chi didn’t get scared; even when she had been on the back of that jerk choking him out he hadn’t felt a single thread of fear running through her.

“Bulma?” he could feel some fear coming from the other side of the table now, which was even stranger then Chi-Chi’s. Bulma was over-confident to the point of confusing the fuck out of him; he was fairly sure that part of that was because she was at least partly drunk at all times, “Bulma what’s wrong?”

“…She left her phone here”, she whispered, grabbing at the fourth chair at their table. She pulled the purple jacket off of the chair, digging into the pockets to find the phone, “Shit. Shit, go. Now,” she stared at Junior with large eyes, the fear that she was projecting was almost tangible in the air now.

“What does it matter if she left her phone? I met the woman, she can defend herself,” Vegeta asked, looking between Junior and Bulma with confusion, “Is there something I’m not understanding here?”

“If she left her phone that means she can’t call for help and I don’t care how good Chi-Chi is she’s drunk and alone and I want you both to go find her right now or I’m going to punch someone in the face!” her voice was shrill now, but Junior could see that her hands were beginning to shake. With fear or with anger he could barely tell she was so overwhelmed with emotion.

“Why do I have—“ Vegeta was cut off by the cold stare that Bulma had sent towards him, “…Yes, ma’am.”

Junior nodded, pushing away from the table, “You check the bathrooms. I’ll start in here and then we’ll make our way outside. She couldn’t have got too far,” he hoped. He hoped that she hadn’t gotten in over her head. Was she drunk and afraid of someone that was finally her match? Had he fucked up already?

*

Chi-Chi pressed herself closer against the wall, attempting to get away from Freeza. It didn’t work as he only oozed closer to her, his tail nearly touching her shoulder. She had no idea why the purple alien suddenly wanted anything to do with her; she hadn’t thought that beating up a mid-level member of his team would warrant its own visit form the man himself. 

“My dear, I think it’s been years since we’ve seen each other. I haven’t had as much time for social interactions in the past little while, I’ve been so busy with building my empire and all. I think you would be impressed with how far I’ve come,” his tail was just settled on her shoulder now, not slimy but cold. A touch that she did not want anywhere near her.

“I…I hadn’t noticed, I assume a man like you,” it almost made her puke calling him a man, not because he was an alien but because he was so far removed form everything she would consider human. Not just in his species, but in his behavior. She knew what he did and she could barely stand it, “is very busy. Most of those parties are fairly boring anyway.”

“Ah yes that they are, but with the company of a lady such as yourself,” his tail had somehow managed to work its way between her and the wall, dropping so it was hanging loosely around her waist, “I believe they would be that much more interesting.”

“I…I’m very sure,” she hated those parties, but she hated them, even more when Freeza was around. She felt like the whole time was spent dodging him, pretending that she didn’t hear him calling her name in that terrible voice. Her chest felt like it was collapsing in on her; there was almost no breath getting into her lungs, “I’m afraid that I’ve been busy myself lately.”

“Ah of course I know, my men reported to me just how busy you’ve been,” the tail went form being wrapped loosely to tightly around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. She could feel his breath on her, true to his name it was cold, colder then the outside air. “They’re all going to live. If you were curious, though I’m not sure how functional they’ll be. You put the fear of god into them, as you humans say”

She shrugged, wrapped her arms around herself, an attempt to protect herself from him. Chi-Chi was really wishing that she hadn’t worn a crop top because his tail was cold against her skin. She could feel the goose bumps popping up, “You sent them after me. One of them insulted me. Maybe you should teach your men a little bit more respect.” At the mention of her fight she felt a little bit of her strength return. But this wasn’t like that; she was alone and terrified.

Just like she always seemed to be when hers and Freeza’s paths crossed. Even if she wasn’t a kid anymore, she still felt small and helpless. Who knew if there was going to be someone to come recuse her this time? She had pissed off Junior and hadn’t told Bulma where she was going. She was on her own and the thought made her want to vomit.

*

At eight years old Chi-Chi was bored and unimpressed with the parties that her father had her attend. She liked when she got to meet the fighters she saw on TV, but the rest of it, the standing around and the talking to people whom she barely knew bored her. Not to mention the terrible clothes! She hated having to wear dresses and fancy shoes; she wanted to be outside or in bed at least. Her father was too busy and she had been deemed responsible enough (for the moment) to hang around by herself, the staff keeping a close eye on her.

Not that they would talk to her. Maybe if there was another kid around she wouldn’t have been so bored, but when there was they were kind of snooty and annoying. Maybe if Goku had been there, they could have done something fun. But Goku wasn’t the kind of person that was allowed at these events, not that she totally understood why. She knew that he wasn’t totally like her, he had a tail after all, but no one had bothered to explain to her why Son Goku was the “wrong kind.”  
He couldn’t have been that bad, her father let her hang out with him. But she understood on some level that the tail was why Goku wasn’t the right kind. Chi-Chi didn’t get to see a lot of aliens, but she understood that they existed. Even if Goku was an alien that didn’t mean there was anything wrong with him.

And if being an alien was the reason he wasn’t the right kind, then why was the weird pink man allowed here? She didn’t know his name, but she had seen him at the last few parties that she had been forced to attend. It wasn’t like he was hard to see; he was shorter then most of the humans with a large almost helmet like head and a long pink tail that dragged behind him. She had to admit that she had been watching him because there wasn’t anything else that she could do. He was interesting…his looks at least. She found that his voice almost grated at her ears, but at the same time felt like a cold finger tracing down her back. 

Chi-Chi didn’t want to meet him, she just wanted to look at him. She was a curious child and she didn’t think that anyone could blame her for that. Maybe she should have asked her father about him, and he could have told her if he was a good man or a bad one, but in her eight year old mind, this was her secret, her mystery to figure out.

It seemed that her mystery had ended for the night though as the man had disappeared form her sight. She was sure that he had just been talking to Doctor Briefs, but then a waiter had come and blocked her view for a few moments. When the waiter had moved, the pink man had disappeared. Disappointed that her entertainment had gone, Chi-Chi turned around, hoping to find a waiter with something good to eat.   
Instead, she ran face first into a pair of pink legs. 

She tilted her head up, though not as much as she would have had to with a human. The pink man’s face was staring down at her, his shadow thrown over her. For the first time, she felt a shiver of fear, the pink man’s eyes weren’t…angry… but sinister almost. Like a monster form a dream.

“And who are you, Little Girl?” his mouth quirked, just the barest hint of a smile. She knew it wasn’t a good smile, not like the ones her father gave her. He was even scarier with the smile and she backed against the pillar she had been hiding against, trying to make herself small.

“Chi-Chi,” she mumbled, realizing for the first time that maybe she should have told her father and found out just who the pink man was before she started watching him, “…um Ox Princess Chi-Chi,” she remembered her manors, managing to do a shaky curtsy  
.   
He bowed, though she could tell that it was just him humoring her. Some adults thought that her title meant that they had to fawn over her, and some of them treated her like…well a child. She didn’t like that.  
“Freeza, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess,” the way he said ‘Princess’ made it feel more like a pet name than a title, “You would be the Ox King’s daughter would you not?”

She nodded, wishing that her father could be here right now. There was a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach like a rock had been dropped in, “Yes. That’s my daddy.”

“Then can you fight? I mean your father is such an impressive man…” Freeza’s little smile never left his face even as he spoke, and the longer it stayed the worse her stomach felt, “It would be so terrible if you couldn’t.”

Chi-Chi balled up her fists, stamping her foot down on the marble floor, “I can totally fight! Daddy says that I’m good enough to fight in tournament soon! Just one of the under ten ones, but I could totally win.”

Freeza bent at the waist, looking her in the eye, “Then maybe someday we’ll have a fight, and we’ll see just how strong you are hmm, Princess?” His hand came seemingly out of no where, grasping her chin with his hands. The sharp nails dug into her skin even so slightly, “I think that some day someone will bring you down a few notches, Princess. A name isn’t everything in the world; you need to have something else to back it up”

She wanted to yell at him, that she was good enough because she was strong and a good learner, not because her father was the Ox King. But she was too damn scared, those dark eyes peering almost into her soul. She had no doubt that he would take some amount of pleasure in taking her down those notches. Maybe he was the one who should be taken down, not that she was big enough or strong enough yet to do such a thing. But some day, even with that terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach she promised herself she would show Freeza and everyone like him just what she could do.

*

In the present Chi-Chi stood frozen still, feeling that same terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She thought that she had been strong enough to take out Freeza, but apparently she still wasn’t. There was something about his gaze that just broke her. She could tell that he was less interested in her fighting abilities, and more in the assets that she had developed as an adult. Or she was guessing that by the way his eyes were trailing over her breasts and stomach.

“Oh, I assure you, Princess,” that name sounded so disgusting coming out of his mouth still like he was drawing it out. Was she supposed to feel glad that he bothered to use her proper title? Or thankful the great Lord Freeza bothered to remember that she was just as high in status as he was? Either way, she felt nothing but disgust towards him, “that even if those brutes don’t understand how to respect a Lady such as yourself, I do.”

Dear god where the hell was Junior when she needed him? Or was this some cosmic revenge for flipping out on him? It certainly felt like it, “I…I believe that, you have shown yourself to be nothing more than a gentleman,” she didn’t want to set him off, that tail around her waist could crush her. She had heard stories of what he could do with it, she didn’t need to see that first hand, “But I’m not going to apologize for what I did. I felt vulnerable and I attacked, it was simply self-defense,” she tried to put a bit of venom into her words, an attempt to convince him that she might be feeling vulnerable enough to attack right now.

There was a bit of heat coiling in her stomach, a sign that if she had to she might be able to pull something off. Freeza might think that he knew everything that she could do but she had her own trump card tucked away. 

“Of course, and that’s just why I’m not pressing charges, Princess. We both know that it could turn into nothing more then a legal mess, we both have the resources to deal with such a thing. But why drag it out? I’ve just come to apologize for that whole mess…” maybe it was an accident, but she could swear that the tip of his tail was stroking her stomach, “I mean I wouldn’t want to ruin such a promising relationship.”

“Chi-Chi!” Freeza’s head swiveled around at the sound of her name. Once he was distracted she grabbed his tail with two hands, digging her claws into the soft flesh. He yelled and his tail uncurled form around her stomach. When she was released she darted away, towards the entrance of the alley and the voice.

Vegeta was standing at the edge of the alley, watching them, he didn’t look anymore impressed with the fact that it was Freeza in the alley then she did, “I could kiss you right now,” she mumbled, grasping at the Saiyan’s shoulder. 

“Please don’t,” he replied, attempting to sound like he was in control of his emotions, but she could see that his tail was puffed out. She had seen that, the few times when Goku got angry, “Freeza. What are you doing here?”

She only felt vaguely better with Vegeta there; it wasn’t that she didn’t trust his skills, it was just that she had never seen him fight. That in addition to the fact that he seemed just as afraid of Freeza as she was, and it was just a huge ball of fuck unless Junior got there, “Where’s Junior?” 

“I was just trying to have a nice meeting with a friend, I wasn’t expecting a monkey to interrupt us. And one of mine even, have you switched sides already, Vegeta? I should have known that Saiyans weren’t loyal, but I thought that I had trained you better than that.”

Vegeta winced at the mention of training, leaving Chi-Chi to only imagine what he had gone through, “He’s inside. He said he was heading out here”, he whispered to her, twitching his eyes to the head of the alley, checking for that large green shadow, “I was under the impression that I was no longer yours. You told me I wasn’t worth anything after the fact I lost to Son, why shouldn’t I be allowed to find other avenues of employment?”

Chi-Chi would deal with the fact Vegeta just implied he was working for her later, not that she really minded the idea of having him on staff. She was getting the feeling that Freeza wasn’t about to let them leave here alive with him. Maybe they could attempt to take him, but she didn’t want to take that chance right now. 

Freeza’s tail twitched behind him, taking a step towards them. His eyes were burning with anger now, his stance saying that he was ready to come for them if he had to, “I think that’s enough out of you, dog, who taught you that you can speak to your betters like that?”

Vegeta stiffened underneath her hand, almost coiling into himself like a dog that was preparing to be kicked. She wanted to stand in front of him, protect him form whatever Freeza was going to throw at him. But she was frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch as the monster approached them.

All of a sudden there was a grip on her shoulder and she flew back with the force of the grab. When she realized what was happening there was a wall of black leather in front of her and Vegeta was standing beside her. Junior. Thank fucking god.

“I would appreciate if you would stop intimidating my client,” Junior seemed to be even larger then normal, though that might have been an illusion created by her fear and relief, “I would hate to have to hurt you, Mister Freeza,” the way he said ‘mister’ was more like there was mud in his mouth and he was trying to spit it out.

Freeza’s mouth turned into a scowl, the rather unpleasant smile disappearing, “I heard that you were working for the Princess, I suppose that seeing is believing as they say. Must we though? You can take the girl and leave, I have no desire to brawl over a dog, it’s so undignified.”

Junior growled a noise that made Chi-Chi put her hand on his back. She wasn’t leaving without Vegeta, originally she wouldn’t have cared but when he had bothered to try and protect her despite his fear, well she wasn’t letting him go.

“Vegeta is coming with us. I don’t trust anyone in your hands, everyone knows what you like to do to Saiyans,” He took a step forward, his hands extended forward ever so slightly, his claws glinting in the moonlight, “Either you let us leave, or we’ll see just how undignified that you can be.”

“Hilarious. The plant cares about the monkey, are you making a collection Princess? Your own personal zoo or maybe a harem? I would think that a woman such as yourself would be able to find better quality men than some…monsters,” Freeza pressed a hand to his chest, and another to his hip. 

“What, like you?” Vegeta spit out, attempting to look around Junior. It wasn’t an easy task considering that somehow the Namekian was filling the whole alleyway, “I think that most women have better taste than to even consider that.”

Freeza growled almost launching himself forward but he pulled himself back, “Fine. I don’t have the time for you idiots tonight. I have much more important things to deal with,” he moved, forward standing in front of Junior as he waited. Junior turned ever so slightly to the side, still keeping Chi-Chi and Vegeta behind him, “…Good night Miss Chi-Chi. I hope we can meet again…without the involvement of your trained dogs.”

When Freeza was gone Chi-Chi bent over and heaved, she wasn’t sure if she was actually going to puke or not, but it was close enough that she had to do something. Junior’s hand was on her back, bent over with concern as he watched her, “Are you alright?”

“He has that affect on people,” Vegeta said, though he was starting to look a little green himself.

Chi-Chi managed to stand up, Junior’s hand on her elbow as she did, “Did you get smaller?” she stared at Junior, sure that he had shrunk between the time that they had confronted Freeza and her heaving.

“Yes. Namekians have the ability to expand any body part. It’s useful for intimidation. Though I think I pulled something in my shoulder”, he moved his shoulder in circles, wincing as he did so, “Yes…definitely…” 

“We’re going back to the house then. We’ll deal with it and give Vegeta somewhere to sleep tonight,” She pointed to the Saiyan, whose eyebrows raised at the mention of his name, “You told Freeza that you work for me. So you work for me now. And I know that’s the same clothes you were wearing the other night, so there’s no way you aren’t homeless.”

Vegeta opened his mouth to protest before Bulma came out seemingly out of nowhere, nearly tackling Chi-Chi to the ground, “Oh thank god you’re okay! They told me to stay inside but I heard shouting and,” She just continued to hug Chi-Chi, the purple leather jacket dangling form her hand.

“I’m fine. We’re all fine. I just need some sleep right now,” Chi-Chi admitted, feeling all of the energy that she had just drained out of her; between strangling the guy at the bar, fighting with Junior and Freeza, she just wanted to sleep.

“Agreed,” Bulma nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

Vegeta’s eyes barely cracked open before the light pierced straight into his brain, causing a deep throbbing. If he was anyone else he would have assumed that he was hungover, but the amount of alcohol that would be needed to get him drunk would be nearly impossible to consume in one night. Though the fact that he could barely remember what had happened the night before was sending all of the hangover signals to his brain. He forced his eyes opened, confused at the scene before him. A glass coffee table, flat screen TV, not his shitty motel room in the least. Vegeta couldn’t figure out just where he was, the memories from last night were just out of reach.

He forced himself into a sitting position, holding his head in his hands. The memories were cloudy, like steam over a shower door. Vegeta had moments like this before, after fights or bad enough beatings, concussion or just something stressfully enough that he had blocked it out. So either the night before he had gotten a concussion or something too stressful to deal with had happened.

“You look like shit”, a green hand came into view, holding a black mug, “Compared to the other two you didn’t drink nearly that much”

Vegeta grabbed the cup, grunting at Junior. The Namekian was starting to make some things make sense and bring other things back into clarity. Freeza, Chi-Chi, the alley. They came back to Chi-Chi’s place, and apparently her way of dealing with stress was with alcohol. And between the two humans they had consumed more than he thought was healthy.

If they were still alive, he was going to have to change his opinion of humans. Slightly and only inside his head, he wouldn’t tell anyone that he had changed his mind. Because then they might think he liked them.  
“Why don’t you look like shit?” he downed the water, slamming it down on the table when he was finished. He wanted to establish some kind of dominance over this damn room, and honestly, he didn’t have the energy to do much else.

“Namekians don’t drink”, Junior said crossing his arms over his chest. Technically that wasn’t true but he wasn’t about to get into an explanation about his low alcohol tolerance, “Also I’m supposed to be protecting Chi-Chi. She’s hard enough to keep track of without me being drunk”

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, “And you were protecting her when she was in the alley with Freeza were you? Or were you on a coffee break at that point?”

“At least I didn’t hide while we were getting Chi-Chi away from him”, Junior smirked, his canines showing between his lips, “I mean I thought Saiyans were supposed to be strong, but that was pretty pathetic”

“What did you say you green bastard!” Vegeta sprung to his feet and regretted it at once. He grasped his head as everything swam and the edges of vision went black. He felt a firm grasp on his arms, steadying him before he hit the floor. Vegeta tilted his head up, ignoring the desire to puke as his eyes met Junior's. For a moment, he thought about saying something before Junior smirked at him.

“You’re more out of it then I thought, you look like you’re going to puke”

Vegeta growled, ripping his arms out of Junior’s grasp and promptly falling back onto the couch. Whatever the hell Chi-Chi had him drinking was clearly some kind of poison because he had never been so hungover, “Go fuck yourself, Slug”

“I mean considering how you were just looking at—AH FUCK”, Junior screamed as Vegeta’s foot connected with his knee, “YOU LITTLE BASTARD”

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO YOU FUCKER”

“I’M GONNA MURDER BOTH OF YOU IF YOU DON’T SHUT UP”, Chi-Chi screamed from the bedroom, having been woken up by the fight ongoing in her living room, “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST SOME OF US ARE SLEEPING”

Junior and Vegeta stared at the bedroom door, afraid that Chi-Chi was going to make good on her promise. When she didn’t, they traded looks. Junior was the first to speak.

“Truce?” He held his hand out to Vegeta if a bit grudgingly. He didn’t think he should be apologizing but in this case, he really should be the bigger man. In more ways than one.

Vegeta grunted but grasped Junior’s hand for a moment, “Truce. For the moment. When the woman isn’t around, we will finish this”, he growled, baring his teeth at Junior. He might have hated the comparison of Saiyans to animals, but sometimes the more animalistic behavior worked.

Junior rolled his eyes, he was starting to think that all of his interactions with Vegeta were going to be aggravating. He wasn’t sure if it was just him, or if it was just how Vegeta was. Either way, he was going to put his fist through Vegeta’s face eventually, “I don’t know what the hell you eat, but the kitchen is that way”

“…what about the shower”, Vegeta had to admit that he was starting to feel a little gross. The club’s air had been hot and heavy, and that was without drinking. Right now all he wanted was a shower, to clean the sweat and general disgust off of himself.

Junior’s mouth twitched a bit, almost a smile emerging on his face. He jerked his thumb back towards the bedroom door, “It’s in there. No idea if there’s another one. I mean you can take your chances with the bear in there if you want but…”

Vegeta was starting to think that the world was plotting against him. He was stuck in this room was an insane Namekian and now he couldn’t even take a shower because if he did, he could risk being murdered, “Well I suppose if I’m going to die I could afford to die cleanly”

“It’s your funeral”

*

Vegeta gently opened the bedroom door, tiptoeing into the room. He was fairly sure what to expect to form the living room, but the smell of alcohol was still vaguely overwhelming. There was a bed in the middle of the room, large enough for several more people then were in it. He could see blue hair peeking out from under a pillow and a pale arm. Beyond that, he couldn’t tell what was going on. Vegeta crept over to the bed, trying to make sure that the pair was actually asleep.

When he got closer it was easier to see what was going on. The two women were intertwined with each other, Bulma’s leg tossed over Chi-Chi’s hip and her head shoved under a pillow. Chi-Chi’s face was pressed into Bulma’s shoulder, her arm tossed over Bulma’s ribs. Most surprising and what almost caused him to make a noise and give himself away was the fact that both were naked. The sheet only came up to their ribs, Chi-Chi’s side exposed but Bulma was on her back. Her chest was bare, showing him way more than he had ever thought he’d see her. It wasn’t so much her bareness that his eyes were attracted to but the silver rings glinting from her nipples.

Apparently her belly button wasn’t the only thing that was pierced.  
His face flushed as he slammed a hand over his mouth to prevent any noises from escaping. He was not going to die attempting to take a shower. He had survived Freeza, he could survive this.

Of course, because his luck had already gone to shit, the bathroom was all the way on the other side of the bed. Vegeta was going to have to go past them.

As carefully as he could, not used to stealth Vegeta lifted his foot and began to walk towards the bathroom door. Just a few feet away he heard a rustling from the bed. Bulma’s head popped out from under the pillow and she rolled over just the slightest bit. He waited but she didn’t wake up.

A few more steps and with no further scares, he made it to the bathroom door. He twisted the knob, flinching when the hinges creaked and nearly jumped inside.

*

Bulma groaned as she raised her head, it felt like her mouth was full of cotton and her head was well not totally attached to her body anymore. A weird floating feeling she was sure was going to be replaced by pain as soon as possible. While the plan had been to just come home and sleep, between Vegeta’s …Vegetaness and how freaked out Chi-Chi was by Freeza, the decision that maybe a drink or two more wouldn’t kill anyone had happened. That drink or two more had turned into a lot more, enough that she was pretty sure Junior had been holding her hair while she vomited in the kitchen sink. Not her proudest moment.

The sound of the shower made it through the fog in her head, Chi-Chi normally got up earlier than her so that wasn’t unusual. She pulled herself to her feet, there was no point in wasting water was there?

*

A minute later Chi-Chi nearly jumped out of bed at the sound of two people screaming at the same time. Her door busted open as Junior ran in looking around for the source of the sound. Suddenly aware that she had been sleeping naked Chi-Chi pulled her sheet over her chest. The screaming was still going on.

“Vegeta?” Junior asked, looking towards the bathroom door.

“Bulma”, Chi-Chi nodded as Bulma exited the bathroom slamming the door as she went.

Junior cover his eyes with his hand, turning a shade of purple Chi-Chi wasn’t sure was healthy, “WHY ARE YOU NAKED”

“That was my QUESTION”, Vegeta screamed over the noise of the shower.

Bulma crossed her arms over her chest, blowing a strand of hair out of her face, “I was asleep. And then I was going to take a shower but the jackass is in there”

“FUCK YOU WOMAN”

Chi-Chi put her head in her hands, she was too hungover for this right now. Honestly even if she hadn’t been hungover they had just woken her up. There was no way a reasonable person would ever be awake enough o deal with all of this, “Junior Leave. Bulma get dressed. Vegeta…just stay in there”

“I WASN’T PLANNING ON LEAVING”

*  
It took a little while longer but eventually they were all sitting around the kitchen table, breakfast having been delivered from the main house’s kitchen. Vegeta was doing his best not to look Bulma in the eye, or Junior for that matter. Chi-Chi had decided that she was going to ignore all of it if they wanted to be morons then she was going to let them be morons.

“Okay, so we actually have shit to do today. If everyone has gotten over their bitchfits?” She raised an eyebrow at the other three around the table. Bulma just shrugged, Junior grunted and Vegeta glared at her.

“Why are you looking at me? I’m not involved with your…little gang of idiots”, Vegeta stabbed his fork into a hunk of bacon, ripping a chunk off the end.

“Whose bodyguard protected you from Freeza last night? Whose couch did you sleep on and whose food are you currently eating? Besides”, Chi-Chi grinned as Vegeta almost pouted at her, like a child who was being scolded, “I told Freeza you were working for me now. If you go out on your own he might try something”

Junior snorted, “What’s he going to do for you? Scream at everyone for you?”

“Oh fuck off Namekian”

Chi-Chi flicked some of her eggs at Junior, “Be nice. He’s going to be my assistant. On paper at least, I don’t really think it matters that much. We are just trying to keep him from being murdered in fighting pits or something”

“It would be a shame to waste him”, Bulma let her eyes drag over Vegeta, licking her lips at him as she did so.

Vegeta scooted his chair away from her, “If you keep her away from me, I’ll work for you”  
“Fantastic! Now”, Chi-Chi stood up, pushing her chair away from the table, “We have work to do!”

“Isn’t your work drinking?”

Junior barely dodged the fork that came flying at his head with such force that it embedded in the wall behind him.  
*  
“Why are you in the middle?” Vegeta sunk into the SVU’s front passenger seat like he was afraid that someone was going to see him, “There’s a huge amount of room back there. Even the Namekian could fit”

Junior grunted, resisting the urge to take his hands off of the wheel to smack Vegeta upside the head. He had admittedly been wondering the same thing, Chi-Chi was in the middle seat of the back of the SVU with Bulma beside her. He just didn’t bother to ask.

“If the car gets t-boned I’m safest in the middle. That way I won’t die and Junior won’t get fired. If he’s alive”, Chi-Chi leaned through the gap between the two seats, grinning at Junior.

“…that’s comforting”, Junior mumbled as she slid back into her seat. Technically it was better if she didn’t die since that was his job, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed the suggestion their car could be hit, “Where the hell am I going anyways?”

Bulma held up her phone, tapping a couple things before the GPS on the dash blinked to life with a map, “Just go where the machine tells you to go. It’ll all make sense soon”

“I don’t believe that in the least”

*

Junior didn’t really believe his eyes or the GSP when he pulled into the parking lot, but Chi-Chi and Bulma didn’t protest. The large lettering proclaiming the building to be Fire Mountain Elementary was hard to mistake, and the fenced in playground only completed the idea that yes this was a school. Maybe if it was one of those fancy private schools he would have understood, but from the neighbourhood surrounding them, there was no way this was anywhere near private.

“Where the fuck are we?” Vegeta grunted, looking out his window. He seemed more confused than Junior, which seemed to be par for the course for Vegeta. He didn’t really appear to have much knowledge of a normal life. Not that Chi-Chi’s life was anything close to normal.  
“Fire Mountain Elementary School”, was Chi-Chi’s answer, as she popped out of the car.

Climbing out as well Junior noticed for the first time what she was wearing. Contrary to her normal clothing, she was wearing a purple lace dress and sweater, no midriff was showing for once, “And what the hell are we doing here?”

“Stuff”, Bulma was beside him all of a sudden, for the first time since they had met actually wearing pants, “Honestly you guys are so damn nosy”

“What the fuck is an elementary school?” Vegeta asked, causing all three of them to look at him like he was speaking a different language, “What?”

*

“Well how was I supposed to know?” he grumbled. After an in his opinion way too long explanation that felt like it had been delivered with a few too many insults, they were now inside the school. Something he now understood meant that it was a school for young children.

Freeza didn’t have school. He had tutors and training, he had never actually left the compound to attend any of classes. Not that he had very much in what was probably traditional learning. Vegeta got the feeling that somehow most humans didn’t learn how to poke a man’s eyes out with their thumbs.

“Shush”, Bulma pressed her finger to her lips, “Chi-Chi’s in a meeting”, she smiled at the woman behind the desk. They were sitting outside what he had been told was the principal’s office, while Chi-Chi talked to the principal. He still hadn’t been told why the hell they were there.  
The woman behind the desk didn’t do much more than raise her eye ridge at them. At least he thought that’s what she was doing, with only one massive eye it was kind of hard to tell what she was doing. She might have been angry at them, but from what he remembered her race did always sort of look pissed off.

“I feel like a kid again”, Junior crossed his legs, looking larger than usual in the human sized chair, “But you know, I can touch the floor now”  
“You got in trouble a lot? How did I know”, Bulma almost leaned over Vegeta to get closer to Junior.

Junior smirked, “Me and my cousin. All the time, I mean at least I’m not waiting for my uncle to show up and look disappointed in us. Because we’re supposed to be setting a good example for the rest of the kids at home”

“You have a cousin?” Junior gave her a look and she shrugged, “What, you haven’t mentioned him before!”

“His name is Nail, we’re the same age, he’s an idiot. He doesn’t live off the compound”, Junior uncrossed his legs again, pulling himself up in an attempt to comfortable, “So you probably won’t ever meet him”

As Vegeta was about to ask what the hell the compound was, probably nothing close to Freeza’s, Chi-Chi exited the principal’s office, followed by a short human woman, “The students should be along soon Ms. Gyumao, they offered to do it actually”

“I’m sure it has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with getting out of class for a bit. Not that I mind, there’s nothing wrong with that”, Chi-Chi smiled, looking completely different than the terrifying woman Vegeta was used to. She actually looked rather pleasant.

“Well I’m sure you never did so when you were in school”, the principal said with a laugh, “Lucha will page the students for you if you’d like to just wait outside”

“Of course”

*

“I didn’t even go to school”, Chi-Chi mumbled once they were outside the office, shoving her hands into her pockets. Somehow when the door shut, she changed from the moment the door closed from the proper young woman happy to speak with an official, to her knowledge vaguely grumpy self, “I was homeschooled”

“Is that why you’re such a bitch?” Junior regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth, as Chi-Chi aimed her elbow into his stomach.

“We are in a school. Don’t be an asshole, and stop fucking swearing”, Chi-Chi stopped after she finished her sentence, “…shut up”

Junior rubbed his stomach, “I wasn’t going to say anything. You might rupture my spleen or something”

“Miss Gyumao?” the pair stopped arguing for a moment to react to the voice. Standing to the side of the four of them were two children, both somewhere around eleven years of age. One had bright white hair and dark red skin, marking him clearly as an alien. For a moment, Junior thought that the second one was a human as well until he noticed the brown fur around her waist. A Saiyan.

He had never seen so many aliens since the Compound or prison, which said a depressing amount about their society. Vegeta looked slightly uncomfortable if it was the fact they were kids or the fact that one was a Saiyan Junior didn’t know for sure and he wasn’t about to ask.

*

As they were given a tour around the school Junior and Vegeta were educated as to just why Chi-Chi was getting so much attention. They walked into the computer lab, which was filled with students, younger than their two guides. It didn’t escape Junior’s attention that the students were a rainbow of colours and races. He wasn’t sure there was a human among them.

The Saiyan who had introduced herself as Spuds began to speak, “So um this is the computer lab, this is where most of your donation went. Like you asked. It’s a lot better now, I mean before we had like one computer”

“You donated to a school?” Junior had to admit that he wasn’t expecting that, especially based on what he already knew about Chi-Chi. Mainly that she was violent and she liked to drink. Yes, she had helped the alien girl the other night, but he hadn’t thought she went out of her way to be charitable.

“I donate to a lot of things”, was her answer before she turned back to Spuds, “You guys like the computers then, is there anything else?”  
Bulma elbowed him in the ribs, “You don’t have to look so surprised, she loves kids”

Junior grunted in reply. He was defiantly never going to understand Chi-Chi. It wasn’t a human woman thing at all, it was just a her thing he was pretty sure now, “How do you know they won’t just steal your money or something? I’m under the impression that scams are things that happen to rich people. And normal people”

“I visit, everywhere that I donate too. Or I try to. If I don’t go I get other people to go. I’ve had more than one person attempt it and they didn’t really seem to enjoy what happened when I caught them”

For what felt like the billionth time, Junior wonder just why Chi-Chi actually needed a bodyguard. She was plenty scary on her own.

*  
It was vaguely embarrassing to admit that it took until they were shown the kids’ gym class where they were playing dodge ball (A gym that Chi-Chi’s money had helped renovate), that Junior realized what was different about this school.

“We’ve seen like four humans”, Junior mentioned to Bulma, Chi-Chi being distracted with Spuds and a few other children, “Is there a reason for that?”

“It’s a primarily non-human school, I didn’t think it would take you that long to notice”

“Hey, kids! Vegeta can’t play dodgeball! You should show him how!” Chi-Chi called out, shoving Vegeta towards the children, “It’ll be fun!”

Vegeta did not look like he agreed with her and was about to argue before Spuds grabbed his hand, “Come on! We’re Saiyans, right? Then we should destroy them!”

Vegeta nodded, a smirk coming over his face, “That is true. We are a proud race and we’ll defeat this…dodgeball. Show me the rules of combat!”

Spuds nodded, pulling Vegeta onto the right side of the court. He was listening intently as she pointed things out. Junior was a little bit concerned that he might hurt one of the kids, but Chi-Chi didn’t seem to share the worry.

“KICK HIS BUTT KIDS”, she called out, “Having fun?”

Junior shrugged, “I don’t get why a rich human girl is bothering to donate to an alien school. Most of you don’t care, and as far as I can tell you aren’t doing it for the media or anything. Unless I missed all of the cameras on the way in”

Chi-Chi didn’t look at him, staring out at the Vegeta and the kids, who were now having a fantastic time, “Is it enough if I say that I love kids? They need the help and I can provide it, before this they were in danger of losing their whole school. It was falling apart that bad. There’s no funding because no one cares. We have a few officials in power that aren’t human, but you saw it yourself. Even the principal here is human”, she rocked back and forth on her heels, “Half of these kids don’t even live in this school district. Parents just complained about the idea of their precious human children going to school with so-called dangerous aliens”

“…I know that. Trust me. I went to one of these schools. They wanted to get some of us used to human culture, they thought it might help us become more…Mainstream. Or whatever the hell the world is. Less foreign to all of those human kids. The humans wouldn’t let us of course; we almost went to court but my Uncle thought it would be too hard on us as kids. What I don’t get is why you care so much?”

“They wouldn’t let me go”, she whispered, soft enough that Junior didn’t think he had actually heard her, “When other races started becoming more and more prevalent they…I don’t know started getting nervous I guess. They were actually tracking personal histories and family lines. Shit like your mother’s mother, if I was adopted they would have found out I’m sure. One of those stupid super exclusive school. I was going to go to public school but someone decided that it was in the best interest of everyone else if the whole school district knew. The only school I could have gone to would have been one like this. Dad decided to homeschool me instead”

“What did they find out?” He was starting to get the feeling he knew, but he still needed her to say it, because it was such an impossible thing.

“I’m only three-fourths human”

Even thought he had suspected it was still a shock, she didn’t look anything like an alien he had seen. If he had been forced to guess, he would have said that she was completely human. Bulma didn’t react, just looked concerned for Chi-Chi. Knowing how long they had known each other, it made sense that he was the one out of the loop.

“And the other one-fourth?”

“Huli jing”


	7. Chapter 7

“Huli jing.”

He might not have known what that was, but he knew enough to know that it wasn’t a type of alien. It was something much earthier and bad enough that she was scared to reveal it.

“Do I have to google that or are you going to tell me more?” he almost felt bad that he wasn’t telling her about himself, but it didn’t matter. What she was telling him could help him protect her, his past didn’t matter to his job.

“It’s…like a fox spirit. Humans call them…us? Demons. Like Kitsunes. A shapeshifting fox”, she crossed her arms over her chest, “I don’t know very much about it, I never really met my mom’s side of the family. I feel bad that I was such a bitch to you the other night and now I’m telling you something about me so.”

Junior put his hand on her shoulder, “It’s fine. I think we both know I’m terrible with human social cues now, it’s on both of us.”

She attempted to smile at him, though it seemed slightly forced, “I guess I’m not great at them either, I never really got to do…that,” she waved her hand towards Vegeta and the kids, “Is that fucked up?”

Maybe it was silly to remember something that had happened when she was just a child, but it still hurt sometimes. Chi-Chi didn’t go to daycare, her father was always around and even if he wasn’t there was always someone around, a Nanny or Roshi. The only other person she ever interacted with that was her age was Goku, and Goku never treated her any differently.

It wasn’t until she was four or five that she actually went to a playground (Roshi’s idea of play was closer to let the kids ride on the giant turtle). As a child, Chi-Chi had never been aware that she was considered any different than anyone else. The idea that her father was that well known was foreign and confusing to her. As an adult, she understood that martial arts was so ingrained in their culture and especially their city that her father was famous to almost everyone.

And by association, she was famous as well.  
When you added that all together with the fact that the papers had been calling her Princess since she was born (it was never clear if her father was actually royalty or not since he didn’t actually rule anything but the name stuck), people thought of her as rather untouchable.

It all lead to what even at twenty-one years old she still remembered with perfect detail. Chi-Chi had walked up to a few kids who were playing tag, all humans of course. Her nanny was of the opinion that Chi-Chi shouldn’t interact with aliens, which meant she didn’t last very long.

“My mommy says she’s a princess. If we hurt her, we’ll get in trouble,” one of the kids had whispered, just loud enough so that she could hear them.

“You can’t play with us! You should go play with the other princesses!”

Never being one to contain her feelings, Chi-Chi had pushed the child over screaming at him, “You’re just a meanie!”

That was the last time she had been allowed to go to the playground, and her nanny had tried to convince her father that it must have been Goku’s influence. That was what had gotten her fired in the end, the fact she couldn’t deal with Chi-Chi, and instead had chosen to blame someone else.  
She was only the first in a long line of caretakers who just couldn’t or wouldn’t deal with Chi-Chi. 

Not to mention a series of angry outbursts that she later regretted.

“Is there anything about you that isn’t seriously fucked up? Because everything I keep finding out is vaguely horrifying,” Junior had to admit that he had thought she was nothing more than a spoiled rich girl when he took the job. Admittedly a spoiled rich girl with weird as shit hobbies. But apparently, she was a rich demon girl with a tragic backstory, “You’re like a fucking anime character.”

Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow at him, unamused with his comments, “This is why you don’t have any friends, isn’t it? Because someone decides to open up to you and you make stupid comments?”

“Yes. Also because I hate everyone.”  
“So fucking edgy.”

Meanwhile, Vegeta was slowly learning that no, he was not good at dodgeball. Which was very annoying as he was good at everything, but the small children were too quick and tiny for him to hit. Combined with the fact that Spuds had explained to him that he shouldn’t hurt anyone, and it wasn’t the easiest task.

“Are you sure this isn’t some form of combat training?” Vegeta crouched beside Spuds, holding one of the so-called dodgeballs in his hand. He was doing decently at the dodge part, not so much with the hitting.

Spuds grinned shaking her head so her black braids bounced, “Nope, sorry. I mean if it was, you would be better right?”

Vegeta glared at her, though it was without much venom. Despite his previous discomfort with her being a Saiyan, he had realized that seeing one of his people not under Frieza's rule was pleasant. Very pleasant in fact, it allowed him to feel something like hope that they could live without his influence.

“Then you show me if you are so good at this game,” he handed her the ball, before standing up watching her expectantly. Only to get whacked straight upside the head with a dodgeball. He stood there for a moment unable to process just what had happened.

“GOOD JOB, VEGETA,”Bulma called from the sidelines, waving her hands a little bit like she was holding imaginary pom-poms.

“GO AWAY WOMAN!”

From then on Vegeta seemed to be doing fairly decent, not that he was managing to hit any of the kids but he was dodging the balls fairly successfully. Spuds was much more successful, even grabbing a ball out of the air so it didn’t hit Vegeta. She grinned up at him holding the ball above her head like it was a prize. 

Vegeta grinned as well, feeling a sort of pride welling up in his chest. Almost like he was watching his own child succeed as a warrior. Even if it was an elementary sort of warrior thing, but he couldn’t expect for Earth Saiyans send their children away like they did on the home world. Saiyans on earth kept their children close to them, when you had already lost so much you kept what little remained close to your chest. 

So distracted he was with pride that he completely missed the ball whizzing through the air until it was too late. It hit just at the right angle, and with as much force as an elementary school child could muster, smashing into his nose. Even the strongest Saiyan was still flesh and blood...and cartilage that just folded underneath the pressure of the ball. Hot blood exploded over his face, pouring down his face in rivers.

“Vegeta!” Bulma screeched, covering her mouth with her hands in horror.

Chi-Chi darted out onto the floor, her heels clicking against the rubber floor. Vegeta was still standing there stunned as Spuds attempted to get his attention or the attention of anyone who would help. Chi-Chi grabbed his arm, spinning him around so that she could assess the damage. His nose was a twisted bloody mess but she was sure that it could be fixed.

“Is there a nurse’s office?” She asked Spuds who was starting to look a little green around the edges, “Don’t worry sweetie, if you have to sit down you can.”

Spuds shook her head, planting her feet against the floor with determination, “No! I’ll help the prince, it’s this way!” She started on her way, not bothering to see if Chi-Chi was following her.

She gestured towards Junior, “I don’t think he’s going to walk, he’s in shock.”

“Agreed, I’ll get him.”

*

Vegeta felt as if he was swimming through a frozen lake, his brain was a mess and he was just so cold. He could almost hear his father in his head, pathetic, a Prince shouldn’t break down. A prince was supposed to be strong.

“I think he’s alive,” Junior’s voice rumbled above him, and he could just barely see the green face looking down at him, “What the hell are we going to do about his nose? He can’t breath like that”

As Junior spoke Vegeta realized that he was right, there was something wrong with his nose. There was a pain, dull and aching, he was making a terrible sounding whistling noise every time he tried to breathe. 

“I’ll fix it if you can get him to sit up,” that was...his brain was still frozen, and he couldn’t grasp the person who it belonged to. He just knew that it felt good, warm and comforting, a voice that was protective. 

All at once he felt righted, a pair of solid arms around him, supporting him as he wobbled a little bit. He would much rather be laying down again, the way his head was going made him think he might be sick.

“Hey Vegeta are you there?” warm hands on his face, trying to make his eyes focus on the owner. All he could see was black hair, surrounding a pale face and his brain picked only one person that it could be.

“I’m here mom,” he murmured, wondering why his mouth tasted of blood, “I don’t feel so…”

There were a few snickers but they were silenced quickly, “Okay, you got hit in the face. I’m pretty sure that your nose is broken, I’m going to put it back in place okay? I want you to grab Junior’s hand if it hurts too much.”

He nodded, somewhat dreamily, whatever his mother said he would listen. She was never unnecessarily harsh with him like his father was, she wanted him to be a child. No Sayian woman was really gentle, but he knew that she loved him.

*

“He’s...so out of it,” Chi-Chi mumbled as she slipped a pair of latex gloves on her hands, the fear of more blood was real, “I mean I guess that probably means that he’s not going resist very much huh?”

Bulma shrugged, chewing on her thumbnail with nerves and fear, “What if he has a concussion, Chi? What are we going to do then?”

“We’ll take him to the hospital. I know how to test for one after dealing with Goku so long thank god,” she put her fingers on either side of Vegeta’s nose, feeling the bones for a moment, “Well there’s...still something there I guess.”

She winced because she knew how much this was going to hurt. There were a few large pieces left thank god, so she wouldn’t be dealing with tiny little pieces. Chi-Chi slowly started to shift a few things just to make sure everything was lined up. Then when Vegeta wasn’t paying attention, not that he was really paying attention to anything she snapped everything back into place. 

Vegeta and Junior both howled, Vegeta’s nail’s curling into Junior’s palm almost hard enough to pierce the skin. The pain was enough to jolt Vegeta out of his stupor, his eyes bright and alert again. He looked around the room, clearly confused at how he had gotten there. It was rather unpleasant when for the second time in as many days he had woken up not knowing how he got somewhere. 

“What the fuck happened?”

“A kid beamed you in the face with a dodgeball and you started bleeding all over the place. I think you made poor Spuds puke,” Bulma studied her nails in an attempt to make it look like she hadn’t been worried about Vegeta’s health. 

“A child? A child took out the prince of--” Vegeta squawked as Chi-Chi pressed a warm cloth against his nose.

“Clean up the blood, and be gentle, we’ll get you some ice in a couple minutes because that is going to swell”, she patted his face a few times to get some of the still flowing blood. 

Vegeta growled at her but continued the same motion, patting gently against his swollen nose, “Thanks, what are you, my mother?”

“You certainly seemed to think so earlier,” Junior smirked, he flexed his hand examining the puncture marks in his palm, “I think I’m going to need a bandage, I didn’t know fucking monkeys had claws”

“Fuck you, you giant green slug--” it took Vegeta a few moments to realize what the first part of Junior’s comment had been, “...what the hell did you mean I think she’s my mother?”

“You called me ‘mom,’” Chichi shrugged, making the attempt to brush it off. She had a feeling that Vegeta had his pride beaten up enough that he could use a break for now, “It’s not a huge deal, we thought you might have a concussion. How are you feeling?”

Vegeta flushed at the mention of what he had done while he was out of it, “What. IF ...YOU AREN’T MY MOTHER!”

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes, “I’m aware. Now, are you concussed or can I go the fuck home already? You got your only clothes covered in blood so now we have to get you some new ones and that’s going to be fun”

“There’s nothing wrong with my clothes!”

“That’s what you think.”

Vegeta scowled, opening his mouth to reply before there was a tentative knock on the door. All four of them turned towards the door, watching as Spuds’ head popped into the room, “Are you okay, Vegeta?” Her bright brown eyes shined with concern.

He nodded, motioning for her to come into the room so that she could see for herself, “I understand that I may have upset you with what happened. I didn’t mean to do that and I apologize for scaring a lady such as yourself.”

Spuds giggled, shaking her head, “I wasn’t upset with you Vegeta! I was scared for you! I couldn’t stop the ball and, what if you had gotten seriously hurt! It would have been my fault!”

Vegeta’s expression went serious for a moment and he put his hand on Spuds’ shoulder, “It was never your responsibility to look after me, or protect me. I might be the Prince of all Saiyans but that doesn’t mean that you have to protect me. We aren’t on Planet Vegeta any longer, you are part of a new generation of Saiyans. A generation that has choices, one where Saiyans do not have to be warriors any longer. I want you to be as free as any other resident of this planet. That’s what I want for Saiyans now. Do you understand?”

Spuds nodded before throwing her arms around Vegeta’s middle, pressing her face into him, “Thank you. I hope you feel better soon Vegeta”

“I’ll be fine child, now go. I believe you have classes to attend. Go, interact with your classmates!”

Spuds released him, putting her hand to her head in a quick salute before she scurried off to class. 

“That was adorable,” Bulma giggled, pressing her hand to her chest, “Who knew that the Prince of all Saiyans was so good with kids?”

Vegeta snorted, glaring over his shoulder at her. The effect would have worked better if his nose wasn’t bright red and slowly turning purple from the trauma earlier, “She is one of my subjects, I have to know how to interact with all of them. Besides, she is a good child, smart and respectful. I wish her nothing but good will.”

“Vegeta’s going to be such a good dad,” Bulma sang, twirling in a circle, “He loves his kids!”

“Will you shut up woman?” Vegeta was bright red, though some of that might have been because the red from his nose was spreading to his cheeks, “Why must you taunt me like some kind of child!”

“Because,” Bulma poked Vegeta in the chest, getting right up close to him, “It’s the only way to talk to a child. On their level!”

Vegeta could feel his blood beginning to boil since he had met Bulma she had done nothing but poke and prod at him like he was some kind of animal in a cage. Only existing for her entertainment, “If I’m a child then at least I’m not a bitch like some people!”

Bulma’s eyes might as well have flashed red with how angry she was, she stepped closer to Vegeta until they were nearly nose to nose, “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?”

“I CALLED YOU A BITCH!”

“OH I’LL SHOW YOU A BITCH!”

“I ALREADY KNOW WHAT ONE LOOKS LIKE SHE WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Chi-Chi couldn’t have said how it happened, it seemed like one moment that Bulma and Vegeta were fighting and the next they were wrapped around each other, lips pressed together. They were practically sucking the air out of each other. 

“Gross,” Chi-Chi muttered, causing them to break apart both flushed red. 

*

Once they had returned to the house, Chi-Chi convinced Vegeta that he was going to have to lay down. She sent him off to one of the many guest bedrooms that were in her section of the larger house. Bulma went with him, under the pretense of making sure he didn’t die in his sleep. Chi-Chi didn’t really care what they did, mainly because she was pretty sure Vegeta was too terrified to even consider sleeping with Bulma right now.

Chi-Chi kicked her shoes off and curled up in a corner of her couch, trying to make herself as small as possible. Piccolo sat a short piece away from her, close enough that they were sitting together but far enough away that she wasn’t touching him.

“Are you okay?” Junior asked, turning his gaze towards his boss. She had revealed a lot about herself to him today, and he was wondering if she was starting to regret it. Clearly, Chi-Chi had been burned because of her heritage before, maybe she was expecting him to be upset too.  
He wanted to tell her that he wouldn’t judge her for being a demon. He had been called the same thing so many times, he had suffered judgment because of who his father was so many times that he couldn’t even pick out one moment that stood out in his mind. Maybe they were some of the only people who could understand each other, through shared pain.

But he couldn’t make himself tell her. Her mother was a demon by blood, his father was a demon by choice. What if he told her and she didn’t feel safe with him any longer and he had to leave? He might have only been with her a few weeks now but he felt like he was somewhere right. Somewhere no one judged him for who he was or who his father was.

“Tired,” she admitted, her head tilted into her knees, “I love the kids but they take a lot out of me, even without everything else.”

“Chi-Chi can actually be defeated by a couple of children and a medical emergency? Colour me surprised,” he smirked, “After all of the drinking and fighting I’ve seen you do, I didn’t think that anything could take you down.”

She stretched her foot out, kicking him in the arm, “Shut up. I...I’m bad at being normal, I think. It’s hard and I don’t always have the energy to do it.”

Junior grabbed her foot, holding it down in his lap so that she couldn’t kick him again, “Emotional labor, pretending to be something you aren't take a toll. You don’t have to feel bad about that.”

Chi-Chi shrugged, not even attempting to slip her foot from his hold instead placing her other foot in his lap, “Shouldn’t I? Bulma can do the bubbly social thing all day long and I can’t even do it for a few hours? For some kids? What the hell does that say about me?”

“That you’re human,” deciding if her feet were going to be in his lap and she was so tense maybe there was something he could do, “You aren’t Bulma, you’re Chichi,” his fingers traced over her foot for a moment. 

She giggled, jerking her foot away before he pulled it back again, “Yeah I guess...I mean I just wonder if it’s because I didn’t go to normal school, interact with normal kids.”

Junior began to gently massage Chi-Chi’s foot, a little nervous at just how hard it was under his fingers, “Normal doesn’t exist, as stupid as that sounds. At least the universal normal as we think of it. What’s normal for a Namekian isn’t normal for a Huli Jing.”

Chichi nodded, stretching out as Junior’s fingers worked on her foot. It was nice, he was gentle enough that he wasn’t hurting her but hard enough that he was working into her muscles, “I guess. I suppose I sound like a whiny rich girl to you, don’t I? Oooh, I have to be nice to kids, oooh I got tutored,” she said all of that in a high voice, the sort she associated with some of the other girls of her class.

He snorted, amused with her impression, “I don’t know if I would say that. Everyone has a reason to complain, if you weren’t you I wouldn’t have a job. So I’m…” he sorted through the words that he could use, “Thankful that you are the way you are. If that makes any sense.”

“Nothing makes any sense. I’ve decided that’s how everything works now, it’s fucking bullshit!” she threw her arms in the air before letting them settle over her eyes, “I think that’s the only way I can get through life without losing everything.”

“You have a rather interesting way of looking at everything,” he pushed his thumbs into the middle of Chi-Chi’s foot, not expecting the reaction that he would get.

She moaned, arching her back in pleasure. Junior froze because he wasn’t sure if he had hurt her or accidently made her cum. He was really hoping it was neither because both would not be comfortable for him.

Chi-Chi took a deep breath, rolling her head as she looked at Junior, “...um can you do that again?” she stretched along the couch, going almost boneless.

“How goddamn tense are you woman?” he stared at her, her foot still firmly in his hands, “Have you never had a foot massage before?”

She shrugged, biting her lip as she looked away from him, “Um, no? I mean I’ve had fancy massages but no one with hands like yours...it just feels so nice.”

Junior looked away, his cheeks flushed purple. There was something about the expression that Chichi was giving him, her cheeks flushed eyes half lidded, that little lip bit all combined that was driving his hormones mad. He could feel just the beginnings of wetness between his legs and he pressed his thighs together in an attempt to calm everything down.

“If you had fox ears they’d be pressed against your head right now, giving me goddamn puppy dog eyes,” Junior grumbled but he continued rubbing her foot, releasing all of the tension in her body.

“Am not!” She crossed her arms over her chest, sinking lower into the couch so that her neck was almost not there, a large pout on her face, “...Junior…”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” he couldn’t imagine what she would be thanking him for, the foot massage maybe.

“...For being here. For being you,” she whispered, “...for being my bodyguard.”

Junior smiled and said, “Always,” even if in the moment neither of them realized just how big of a statement that was. Words have power and words bind together, with that statement Junior bound himself to Chi-Chi. If he had known he might not have minded but neither of them had any idea of what they were both saying.

But they were happy, and content in that moment. Happy together for a few moments before the chaos of their lives overwhelmed them all over again and there wasn’t so much quiet and peace. 

For now, there was just the peacefulness of two people who trusted each


End file.
